The Vatican and the Americanist Crisis: Denis J. O'Connell American Agent in Rome (1885-1903)

The Americanist crisis grew out of a series of issues which occupied the attention of American and Roman prelates in the last decade of the nineteenth century and which divided the American hierarchy into two camps: on the one hand, the liberals, led by John Ireland, Archbishop of St. Paul, and Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, and aided by Denis J, O'Connell, rector of the American College in Rome and agent for the American hierarchy; and on the other hand, the conservatives, led by Michael Corrigan, and the german-speaking bishops. The liberals or Americanists took a progressive stance toward American culture and sought to explain to Rome why America was different from Europe and why in America the separation of church and state was beneficial to the church. Throughout its history Roman Catholicism in America has faced the dual problematic of explaining itself to Rome and to the American cultural majority.