His Eminence Samuel Cardinal Stritch

His Eminence Samuel Cardinal Stritch, an eloquent orator, is best remembered for his gracious concern for each person and his great kindness and intelligence, so well used on behalf of others.

Samuel Alphonso Stritch was born in Nashville, Tennessee, August 17, 1887 to Garrett and Katherine (O’Malley) Stritch. Both parents were Irish. Katherine emigrated to the United States with her parents when she was quite young and settled in Louisville, where her mother ran a boarding house. Garrett Stritch (1841-1896) came to Louisville in 1879 and boarded with Mrs. O’Malley. He married Katherine around 1880. They moved to Sycamore Mills very soon where Eugene Castner Lewis had obtained for him a position as manager of the Commissary. After a short time they moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he became manager of the Nashville office of the Sycamore Mills plant, a subsidiary of DuPont. All of the Stritch children were born in Nashville.

Service to God

Young Samuel was very smart. After graduating at 14 from high school, he attended St. Gregory’s Minor Seminary in Cincinnati for two years, the American College in Rome for six, and the Urban College of Propaganda, where he received the doctorate in philosophy (1906) and theology (1910). Stritch was ordained as a Priest of Diocese of Nashville two years younger than the church usually allowed, by dispensation from the Pope Pius X at St. John Lateran, Rome, by Cardinal Pietro Respighi on May 21, 1910. Pius saying of the young seminarian, “He is young in years but old in intelligence. Let him be ordained.”

When he came back to the United States and to Tennessee, he was named assistant pastor first of Assumption Church in Nashville, then of St. Patrick’s in Memphis. He was appointed secretary to Bp. Thomas S. Byrne in 1916 and chancellor of the diocese two years later; he was also superintendent of schools and rector of the Nashville cathedral.

On August 10, 1921, he became Appointed Bishop of Toledo. At just 34 when he was consecrated November 30, 1921, Stritch became the youngest member of the hierarchy in America. During his tenure in Toledo, Stritch established Mary Manse College in 1922 and the diocesan Catholic Charities in 1923. He also oversaw the beginning of the construction of Holy Rosary Cathedral, whose cornerstone was laid by Janos Cardinal Csernoch in 1926. 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.

Milwaukee

Appointed the fifth Archbishop of Milwaukee on August 26, 1930 (installed November 19, 1930), he was to become known as “the Bishop of the poor” when, during the Great Depression, he refused to use collected monies to repair fire damage to the St. John’s Cathedral roof, but instead invested it and used the interest for the poor until the crisis was over. He often said: “As long as there are two pennies in one’s hand, one belongs to the poor.”

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.

Chicago

On December 27, 1939, Bishop Stritch was appointed Archbishop of Chicago, succeeding the late George Cardinal Mundelein. 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. From 1939 to 1958, Stritch served that position, first as Archbishop and later as Cardinal. He was an aggressive churchman, introducing specialized services for deaf and blind persons and founding the Peter Maurin House for alcoholics. He 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.

He set about improving urban living conditions for poor people (especially the African-American population). He helped create war relief services, assisting immigrants of Poland, Italy and Hungary. He censured anti-Semitism and decried persecution of the Jews. He worked against racism, establishing the Catholic Interracial Council. He was also sympathetic to labor. The Cardinal was praised by organized labor for his supportive stand for working people.

Early in 1943, Stritch attended a peace program held by Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Jewish leaders. However, 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.

Pius XII created him Cardinal-Priest of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura in the consistory of February 18, 1946.

Rome

On March 1, 1958, Appointed Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, thus becoming the first American to head a dicastery of the Roman Curia. As Pro-Prefect, Stritch directed missionary efforts as Director of Mission work for the entire Catholic Church. In May that same year, a blood clot required the Cardinal’s right arm to be amputated above the elbow. Following the operation, he suffered a stroke on May 18, and died eight days later, on May 27, 1958.

Cardinal Stritch left a legacy of hard work, compassion and charity towards one another. He never forgot the places that he had worked and the people he had helped. The work that he started then continues to be done. But of all the places Stritch lived, one place remained nearest to his heart, Memphis.

St. Jude’s Children Hospital

It all began with entertainer Danny Thomas’ vow.

When his wife, Rose Marie, was about to give birth to their first child, Margaret (later Marlo), the Thomases were leading a precarious life with Danny trying to establish himself as an entertainer. Torn between his dedication to his work and his responsibility to his wife and their new baby, Thomas was at a crossroads in his life. Kneeling in a Detroit, Michigan, church he often prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. Should he get a regular paying, nine-to-five job and forget about show business? Or stay working in the field that he loved? “Show me my way in life and I will build you a shrine,” he prayed.

In less than a year, Danny was earning $500 a week at the 5100 Club in Chicago, and Abe Lastfogel, head of the William Morris Agency, took over as his personal manager. Danny went on to become one of the best-loved entertainers of his time, starring in shows in New York and Chicago, Hollywood movies and in the television series “Make Room for Daddy,” (ABC-TV), which evolved into one of the most successful and honored family comedy shows in television history.

Through all his success, Thomas searched for a way to fulfill his vow to create a shrine for St. Jude Thaddeus. Thomas met with his close friend and mentor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Samuel Cardinal Stritch, the man who performed Thomas’ Catholic confirmation service, to talk about this “shrine.” During the meeting, Thomas blurted out, “What about a hospital?” The Cardinal liked the idea of a hospital for needy children, a place where they would be cared for regardless of race, religion or ability to pay – a hospital where no suffering child would be turned away – and steered Thomas to Memphis, Tennessee… and to Memphian Ed Barry.

Barry along with Lemuel Diggs, MD, Michael F. Tamer, who had been president of the Midwest Federation of Syrian Lebanese American Clubs when he heard Thomas ask for support to raise the funds for St. Jude, and Thomas would form a core group of individuals that helped define and lead the efforts to create St. Jude.

Cardinal Stritch University

In the 1930s, as Archbishop of Milwaukee, WI, he advised the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi to found a college to educate their Sisters to become competent teachers. Mother Bartholomew Frederick took up the challenge and in 1937 founded St. Clare College in Milwaukee. All academic programs are opened to lay women. The Sisters opened a reading clinic in 1943 to assist children in overcoming reading difficulties. This program, known today as The Literacy Centers, is among the oldest in the country and remains a cornerstone of Stritch’s legacy.

In 1946, the Sisters renamed the college Cardinal Stritch University in his honor. He accepted on the condition that some persons in need would always be sponsored and educated at the college. Ten years later, a graduate division is established, offering majors in special education and reading. Courses in this division are open to men.

In 1962, the campus on the city’s south side is closed and opens at the present location in Fox Point/Glendale, WI with five buildings: Bonaventure Hall Ð administration; Duns Scotus Hall Ð academics; Roger Bacon Hall Ð science; Serra Hall Ð dining room and kitchen; and Clare Hall Ð residence. The O.W. Carpenter Campus Center and the A.S. Kliebhan Hall (Great Hall) are completed and dedicated in 1985. The Library, Fieldhouse, Student Union, Bookstore and Schroeder Auditorium are included in this expansion.

It wasn’t until 1970 College became entirely coeducational and in 1980 an innovative nursing program is introduced, offering both associate and bachelor’s degrees.The eighties also saw major academic growth. Programs in Management for Adults, the forerunner to the College of Business and Management, are implemented in 1982 to meet the needs of working adults seeking degrees. Their success led to expansion into Minnesota in 1987.

In 1983, the Professional Inservice Bureau is created and offers an off-campus delivery system for working educators who want to pursue graduate studies.

The Master Plan for Stritch was unveiled in 1988; its priority was to promote the Franciscan charism. A task force identified and described the four Franciscan values upon which Stritch still operates.

As the new century came to be, Cardinal Stritch University advanced to meet the changing times. The Franciscan Pilgrimage program began in 2000 for faculty, staff, and administration. Initially, two people from each group are sent for a ten day leadership pilgrimage in Assisi and Rome. The Leadership Center, which prepares and sustains leaders that are catalysts for transformation of their organizations and communities was established in 2002.

A $14 million expansion of the University’s main administration building, Bonaventure Hall, was completed in 2006. Stritch also began offering its first entirely online degree programs. the next year, CSU establishes The Saint Clare Center for Catholic Life, which provides education and formation for lay Catholics who seek to grow in faith and service. It is the only center of its kind in the country.

City Center, home to most of the College of Education and Leadership, opened at the former Pabst Brewery in downtown Milwaukee in 2009. The former education building on campus was remodeled to create Assisi Hall, a residence for 100 students. In 2010, plans were announced for the construction of St. Francis of Assisi Chapel on the second floor of Bonaventure Hall. The Chapel was dedicated on October 4, 2011.