Bernard A. Maguire

Bernard A. Maguire was born on February 11, 1818, in Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland. He emigrated to the United States with his parents, at the age of six. They took up residence near Frederick, Maryland, where his father worked on the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. John McElroy, a Catholic priest, periodically visited the Maguires and other families working on the canal project. He thought Bernard would be suitable for the priesthood and ensured that he received an education. McElroy enrolled Maguire at Saint John's College in Frederick, a Jesuit school of which McElroy was president. Among Maguire's professors there was Virgil Horace Barber. In school, Maguire and his classmate, Enoch Louis Lowe, were continually at the top of their class, and they participated in oratory declamations together. Jesuit formation On September 20, 1837, Maguire entered the Society of Jesus, where he was supervised by Francis Dzierozynski. He then began his higher education at Georgetown University; from 1839 to 1840, he studied rhetoric, and from 1840 to 1841, philosophy. In 1846, Maguire began his theological education for the priesthood. He took leave of his studies during the academic year of 1849–1850 to catechize the students at Georgetown. expelled three students, prompting an uproar among the student body. Believing the expulsion applied to all the students involved in the dispute, 40 students left the university and took up residence in hotels in Washington. They wrote the prefect demanding that they be allowed to return without punishment and that the first prefect be replaced by someone new. After word of this standoff reached the local newspapers, Maguire met with the students to persuade them to peacefully return. Eventually, the students agreed to unconditionally return and issued an apology. At the same time, Villiger resigned as first prefect, and Maguire was selected to replace him. On September 27, 1851, he was ordained a priest by John McGill, the Bishop of Richmond. == First presidency of Georgetown University ==

During his tertianship from 1851 to 1852, which was supervised by Felix Cicaterri, The rebellion was quickly quashed after a lecture at breakfast the following morning, in which Maguire appealed to the students' sense of honor. Maguire promoted dramatic and literary societies among the students. and the commencement of 1854 was attended by Franklin Pierce, the president of the United States. A fire broke out on December 6, 1854, destroying the shed where the tailor and shoemaker worked. The university's vice president noticed the fire during the night and awoke others who prevented it from spreading to the other buildings. Despite the construction of new buildings, a significant increase in the number of students left Georgetown pressed for physical accommodations. Therefore, Maguire sought to erect another building, but these plans were rendered untenable by the Panic of 1857. Historian Robert Emmett Curran regards Maguire's tenure as being overall successful. Preparatory division Several improvements were made to the university's facilities during Maguire's presidency. The preparatory division (which later became Georgetown Preparatory School) was separated from Georgetown College in 1851, both to reduce any negative influence of the older students on the younger ones and because the intermixing of ages dissuaded some older students from attending Georgetown's higher education division. The preparatory division was further segregated with the creation of separate housing for the younger students in 1852 and the institution of a separate academic calendar in 1856. More modest than was originally envisioned several years before, the Preparatory Building cost $20,000 and was complete by the commencement of 1855. It was outfitted with new gas lamps, rather than oil lamps. The Preparatory Building was later renamed Maguire Hall. == Pastoral work ==

After his first presidency at Georgetown, Maguire was sent to be the pastor at St. Joseph's Church in Baltimore in 1858. His first time engaging in pastoral work, Maguire garnered a reputation as a skilled orator. In 1859, he was transferred to St. Aloysius Church in Washington, D.C., where his renown as a preacher grew, and his sermons caused many Protestants to convert to Catholicism. == Return to Georgetown ==

Maguire became the president of Georgetown University for a second time on January 1, 1866. Replacing John Early, he took office in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Enrollment at the university had declined precipitously during the war, and few students remained by the time Maguire took office. Georgetown's physical campus also suffered during the war, which Maguire described as being "nearly ruined." Within three months, the work was complete. To symbolize post-war national unity, Maguire adopted the respective colors of the Union and Confederate Armies, blue and gray, as the school's official colors. these discussions resumed and became more concrete by 1869. Eventually, the university's board of directors approved the establishment of Georgetown Law School in March 1870. Maguire desired the law school to be more integrated with the rest of the university than the medical school, which operated largely autonomously. He selected the first six faculty members and announced the creation of the new school at the university commencement in June 1870. The law school's first classes began in October. President Ulysses S. Grant attended the commencement of 1869 and conferred the degrees. That year, the Jesuit scholasticate, which trained Jesuits in their religious formation, was moved from Georgetown to Woodstock, Maryland, becoming the independent Woodstock College. Maguire's health had begun to deteriorate by 1869, and the new provincial superior, Joseph Keller, began considering potential successors, in consultation with the Jesuit superiors in Rome. Maguire's tenure came to an end in July 1870, == Later years ==

Following his second presidency of the university, Maguire returned to St. Aloysius Church as the pastor. He preached regularly until retiring from the position in May 1875. He resigned these duties when health prevented him from continuing in 1884. His requiem mass was held at St. Aloysius Church in Washington, and he was buried at the Jesuit Community Cemetery at Georgetown University. == References ==