Humberto Sousa Medeiros
Humberto Sousa Medeiros | |
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Cardinal, Archbishop of Boston | |
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See | Boston |
Appointed | September 8, 1970 |
Installed | October 7, 1970 |
Term ended | September 17, 1983 |
Predecessor | Richard Cushing |
Successor | Bernard Law |
Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest of Santa Susanna |
Orders | |
Ordination | June 15, 1946 by James Edwin Cassidy |
Consecration | June 9, 1966 by James Louis Connolly |
Created cardinal | March 5, 1973 by Paul VI |
Rank | Cardinal-priest |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Died | September 17, 1983 Boston, Massachusetts, United States | (aged 67)
Previous post(s) |
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Motto | Adveniat Regnum Tuum (Thy Kingdom Come) |
Coat of arms | ![]() |
Styles of Humberto Sousa Medeiros | |
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Reference style | His Eminence |
Spoken style | Your Eminence |
Informal style | Cardinal |
See | Boston |
Humberto Sousa Medeiros GCC GCIH (October 6, 1915 – September 17, 1983) was a Portuguese-American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1970 until his death in 1983, and was created a cardinal in 1973. An ecclesiastical conservative, Cardinal Medeiros was considered a champion of the immigrant worker, the poor and minorities.[1]
Early life
[edit]Humberto Sousa Medeiros was born in Arrifes, on the island of São Miguel, Azores, to Antonio Medeiros and Maria de Jesus Sousa Massa Flor. He was baptized in the parish of Nossa Senhora da Saúde on November 1, 1915. His father raised vegetables and ran a small variety store until 1931, when the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Fall River, Massachusetts.[2] The family attended St. Michael's Church, the local Portuguese parish.
Forced to leave school at age 16, Humberto swept floors in a local textile mill for 62 cents a day, studying English in his spare time. He was able to return to school in 1935, when his younger brothers became old enough to work to support the family. After graduating first in his class from B.M.C. Durfee High School in 1937, he entered the Catholic University of America.[3] He became a naturalized citizen[1] and obtained a Master of Philosophy degree in 1942 and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1946.[2]
Priesthood
[edit]Medeiros was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop James Edwin Cassidy on June 15, 1946.[4] He then returned to the Diocese of Fall River, where he was assigned to St. John of God Church in Somerset.[5] In 1949, he returned to Catholic University to pursue his doctoral studies. He earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1952.[2] After returning to Fall River, he was assigned to Holy Name Church[6] and named assistant chancellor of the diocese. He later served as vicar for religious, vice-chancellor, and finally chancellor, during which time he was elevated to the title of Monsignor in 1958. He became pastor of St. Michael's Church in 1960 at which stage he finally mastered the English language.
Episcopal ministry
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Bishop of Brownsville
[edit]On April 14, 1966, Medeiros was appointed Bishop of Brownsville, Texas, by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal ordination on June 9 from Bishop James Louis Connolly, with bishops James Joseph Gerrard and Gerald Vincent McDevitt serving as co-consecrators, at St. Mary's Cathedral.[4]
His appointment to the Southern Texas diocese came at the time of a threatened farm workers' strike.[2] Many of the lay faithful of the diocese were Mexican-American migrant workers. Medeiros was an advocate on behalf of workers, supporting their demands for a minimum wage at $1.25 an hour. He also became known as an outspoken opponent of capitalism, denouncing an economic system that "considers profit the key motive for economic progress, competition the maximum law of economics, and private ownership of the means of production an absolute right that carries no corresponding social obligations."[2]
During his tenure, Medeiros sold the episcopal limousine, converted all but one room of the episcopal residence into a dormitory for visiting priests, and often traveled with migrant workers to celebrate Mass in the fields during the harvest season.[2] He spent Christmas and Easter visiting prisoners in Texas jails.[1] He also served as the chaplain of the Texas state council of the Knights of Columbus.[7]
Archbishop of Boston
[edit]Medeiros was appointed Archbishop of Boston on September 8, 1970, at the request of and in succession to Richard Cushing. He was installed on October 7 of that year.[4] The appointment of Medeiros, a Portuguese-American, surprised Irish Catholics in Boston, as the Irish had long dominated the local clergy and some Irish Catholics in Boston looked down on the Portuguese as "third-class Catholics".[8] In the days leading up to and following Medeiros' arrival, local Catholic institutions were targeted by vandals on several occasions. In one instance a cross was burned on the lawn of the diocese's chancery.[8]
In 1971, Medeiros described abortion as "the new barbarism".[9] As in Brownsville, he became an advocate for the poor: his Pastoral Letter "Man's Cities God's Poor" Boston 1972 reflects his passion for the poor. An opponent of the Vietnam War, Medeiros condemned the bombing of Hanoi in a 1972 Christmas homily.[10]
Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna in the consistory of March 5, 1973.[4] Medeiros pleaded with the Vatican to lift the excommunication of Leonard Feeney, who disobeyed church authority and took a strict interpretation of the doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.[11] In 1974, Medeiros refused to allow the baptism of the child of a Marlboro woman who supported the establishment of an abortion-information clinic.[12] He strongly supported integration in the United States but not desegregation via busing. He refused to let parents enroll their children in parochial schools as a means of avoiding it.[13] In May 1976, he spoke out against the racism in South Boston but apologized the following week.[14] Medeiros served as a special papal envoy to the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal in May 1977.[15]
Medeiros was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II, respectively. Following John Paul I's sudden death, he said, "I've been trying to say to God, 'It's your doing, and I must accept it.'"[16] Before the primaries for the 1980 congressional elections, Medeiros issued a pastoral letter that stated, "Those who make abortion possible by law cannot separate themselves from the guilt which accompanies this horrendous crime and deadly sin."[17] His words were considered to be directed at pro-choice candidates James Michael Shannon and Barney Frank, and criticized by some as violating the separation of church and state.
Medeiros transferred John Geoghan from parish to parish despite multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse.[18] He knew of dozens of sexual abuse accusations against Paul Shanley.[19] Medeiros himself was accused of sexual impropriety posthumously by Gerry Garland, a student at Catholic Memorial High School.
Medeiros died from heart failure during open heart surgery in Boston, at age 67. He was laid to rest at his request with his parents in Saint Patrick's Cemetery in his hometown of Fall River. Massachusetts Governor (and future Democratic presidential nominee) Michael Dukakis described him as a "gentle, compassionate man".[citation needed]
Legacy
[edit]Two buildings in Medeiros' hometown of Fall River, MA are named after him. The Cardinal Medeiros Towers is a federal elderly & disabled housing development.[20] Adjacent to the (now-closed) Bishop Connolly High School, the Cardinal Medeiros Residence - a housing complex for retired Roman Catholic priests - is owned & operated by the Diocese of Fall River.[21]
The Cardinal Medeiros Trust fund was created in 1981 by the Texas Knights of Columbus State Council Charities in his honor to provide educational grants to families of Knights.
Boston College named the freshman honors dormitory "Medeiros" in his honor. Cardinal Medeiros Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is named after him.
The main auditorium of the Catholic University of Portugal's campus in Lisbon is named in his honor. A statue on his honor was inaugurated in his home parish of Arrifes on 10 June 2000, at the Portugal Day.
Honours
[edit]Grand-Cross of the Order of Christ, Portugal (3 March 1972)
Grand-Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (21 May 1972)[22]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Cardinal Medeiros of Boston Dies After Coronary Bypass Operation", The New York Times, September 18, 1983.
- ^ a b c d e f "Change of the Guard". Time. 1970-11-21. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010.
- ^ Lukas, J. Anthony (1986). Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families (1st Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. pp. 392–393. ISBN 0394746163.
- ^ a b c d "Humberto Sousa Cardinal Medeiros". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
- ^ St. John of God Church, Somerset, Massachusetts
- ^ Holy Name Church, Fall River, Massachusetts
- ^ Lapomarda, S.J., Vincent A. (1992). The Knights of Columbus in Massachusetts (second ed.). Norwood, Massachusetts: Knights of Columbus Massachusetts State Council. p. 105.
- ^ a b Lukas, J. Anthony (1986). Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families (1st Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. pp. 370–375. ISBN 0394746163.
- ^ "The Anti-Abortion Campaign". Time. 1971-03-29. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009.
- ^ "New Red Hats". Time. 1973-02-12. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008.
- ^ "Feeney Forgiven". Time. 1974-10-14. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
- ^ "Sins of the Mother". Time. 1974-09-02.
- ^ "From the Schools To the Streets". Time. Vol. 104, no. 17. 21 October 1974. p. 24. Retrieved 5 October 2017. (Also available from EBSCOhost)
- ^ "A Church Divided". Time. 1976-05-24. Archived from the original on March 10, 2008.
- ^ Miranda, Salvador. "MEDEIROS, Humberto Sousa". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009.
- ^ "The September Pope". Time. 1978-10-09. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008.
- ^ "The House: Matters of Morality". Time. 1980-09-29.
- ^ Podles, Leon J. Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. Baltimore, MD: Crossland Press, 2008. 148-149.
- ^ McFadden, Robert D. (20 December 2017). "Bernard Law, Powerful Cardinal Disgraced by Priest Abuse Scandal, Dies at 86". The New York Times.
- ^ "Elderly And Disabled Developments - Fall River Housing Authority". fallriverha.org. 2021-10-02. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
- ^ Harrington, Joseph (2023-11-30). "Cardinal Medeiros Residence is a happy home for retired priests | Anchor News". Retrieved 2024-08-15.
- ^ "Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
External links
[edit]- 1915 births
- 1983 deaths
- American people of Azorean descent
- Portuguese emigrants to the United States
- 20th-century American cardinals
- People from Fall River, Massachusetts
- Burials in Massachusetts
- Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI
- Catholic University of America alumni
- Roman Catholic archbishops of Boston
- B.M.C. Durfee High School alumni
- Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal)
- Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry