View source for James Andrew Corcoran

{{for|the New York politician|James A. Corcoran (Brooklyn)}}
{{One source|date=September 2009}}{{Infobox person
| name               = James Andrew Corcoran
| birth_date         = March 31, 1820
| birth_place        = Charleston, South Carolina
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1889|07|16|1820|03|31}}
| death_place        = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
| alma_mater         = [[College of Propaganda]], Rome
| occupation         = theologian<br>editor<br>writer
}}

'''James Andrew Corcoran''' (March 31, 1820 in [[Charleston, South Carolina]] – July 16, 1889 in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]) was the editor of the ''United States Catholic Miscellany'', the first distinctively Catholic literary periodical published in the United States<ref name="CathEncy">{{CathEncy|wstitle=James Andrew Corcoran}}</ref> and the theologian for the bishops of the United States in the [[First Vatican Council]].<ref name="CathEncy"/>  He authored "the [[John Lancaster Spalding|Spalding]] formula", an attempted compromise during the [[First Vatican Council]] on the doctrine of [[papal infallibility]].<ref name="CathEncy"/> At the age of 14 he was sent to the [[Pontifical Urbaniana University|College of Propaganda]], Rome, where was ordained a priest on 21 December 1842. He was the first person native to the Carolinas who received priestly orders. He remained a year longer in Rome to complete his studies and was made doctor in sacred theology.

He learned to read the literatures and dialects of Western and Northern Europe, and spoke Latin fluently, as can be seen in the text of the Second of the [[Plenary Councils of Baltimore]]. In addition, he was a profound [[Semitic scholar]], with a special predilection for [[Syriac language|Syriac]]. On the death of Bishop [[John England (bishop)|John England]] in 1842 he was recalled to Charleston, where he taught in the [[seminary]], doing parochial work in the meantime, and in conjunction with Dr. Lynch edited the ''United States Catholic Miscellany''. His position as a Catholic editor involved him in many controversies, one being on the life and teachings of [[Martin Luther]], for which Corcoran procured from Europe an abundance of Lutherana. He had made great headway with the preparation of a life of Luther, when in 1861 his manuscript and library were destroyed by fire. {{citation needed|date=September 2009}}

During the [[American Civil War]] his sympathies were with the South, and the end of the struggle found him rector of a parish in [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], where he stayed during an epidemic of [[cholera]] which decimated his congregation. He was made secretary to the [[Provincial Councils of Baltimore]] of 1855 and 1858; also secretary in chief at the Second Plenary Council of 1866. He was one of the editors of the complete works of Bishop England. 
{{citation needed|date=September 2009}}

In 1868 he was chosen by the unanimous voice of the American hierarchy as their theologian on the commission preparatory to the Vatican Council. He was assigned to the doctrinal as an [[Olive branch]], in which the doctrine is rather implied than flatly stated. But the compromise was rejected. While at the council, [[James Frederick Wood|Bishop Wood]] of Philadelphia, his school-fellow at the Propaganda, perfected arrangements by which Dr. Corcoran took a theological chair in the newly opened seminary at [[Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Overbrook]], near Philadelphia. This position he retained until death, declining, on the plea of advancing years, a call to [[The Catholic University of America]] in Washington. {{citation needed|date=September 2009}}

In 1876 the ''American Catholic Quarterly Review'' was founded, and Corcoran was made chief editor, assisted by [[George Dering Wolff]]. His articles and book reviews were the principal source of its success. (For a list of his contributions see ''General Index of the Review'', Philadelphia, 1900, p.&nbsp;15.)

In 1883, when the archbishops of the United States were invited to Rome to prepare for the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, they took Dr. Corcoran with them as secretary, and, at their request, he was permitted to be present and take notes at the sessions held with the three cardinals appointed by [[Pope Leo XIII]] as a special commission. The following year he was made a domestic [[prelate]] and assisted as secretary at the Plenary Council. {{citation needed|date=September 2009}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Andrew Corcoran}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corcoran, James Andrew}}
[[Category:19th-century American Roman Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:Writers from Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:Writers from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1889 deaths]]
[[Category:Catholics from South Carolina]]
[[Category:19th-century American Roman Catholic priests]]