Samuel Stritch

Samuel Stritch was born on August 17, 1887, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Garret (Gerard) (1839–1896) and Katherine (née O'Malley) Stritch. The O'Malley family immigrated to the United States from Ireland when Katherine was a young child. They settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where the family opened a boarding house. Garret was born in Ballyheigue, Kerry, in Ireland, but immigrated to Louisville from Dublin in 1879. The second youngest of eight children, Samuel had two brothers and five sisters. They all attended the Church of the Assumption in Nashville. Considered a child prodigy, Samuel Stritch finished primary school at age ten and high school at age 14 in Nashville. Deciding to become a priest, Stritch in 1901 entered St. Gregory's Preparatory Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1903. Bishop Thomas Byrne of Nashville then sent Stritch to study at the Pontifical Urbaniana Athenaeum De Propaganda Fide in Rome, during which time he resided at the Pontifical North American College. He later earned his doctorates in philosophy and in theology. While in Rome, Stritch befriended Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII. ==Priesthood==

Stritch was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Nashville by Cardinal Pietro Respighi on May 21, 1910, at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. At age 22, Stritch was below the age requirement for ordination, but Pope Pius X granted him a dispensation. He remarked that, "[Stritch] is young in years but old in intelligence. Let him be ordained." After Stritch returned to the United States, the diocese assigned him in 1911 as pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Memphis. Byrne named him as his private secretary in 1913 and as a diocesan chancellor in 1917. The Vatican appointed Stritch as a domestic prelate in May 1921. ==Episcopal career==

Bishop of Toledo On August 10, 1921, Stritch was appointed the second bishop of Toledo by Pope Benedict XV. He received his episcopal consecration at the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales in Toledo on November 30, 1921, from Archbishop Henry K. Moeller, with Bishops John Morris and Thomas Molloy serving as co-consecrators. Archbishop of Milwaukee Following the death of Archbishop Sebastian Messmer, Stritch was named the fifth archbishop of Milwaukee on August 26, 1930, by Pope Pius IX. Pius XII created him as cardinal-priest of the Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome during the consistory of February 18, 1946. In 1952, Stritch delivered the invocation at the opening session of the 1952 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, saying "Today we face a crisis as grave as that of Valley Forge." Referring to communists and secularists, Stritch asked for divine protection against ;"the aggression of those within and without of Godless enslaving political systems and of those who wittingly or unwittingly seek to take away our freedoms by their advocacy of materialism and Godless humanism."In 1954, Stritch issued a pastoral letter exhorting Catholics in his archdiocese to not attend the assembly of the World Council of Churches at Evanston, Illinois, 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," Stritch's pastoral letter against ecumenism dismayed several Protestant and ecumenical figures. Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith On March 1, 1958, Pius XII appointed Stritch as pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith in Rome. Death In May 1958, while in Rome, Stritch suffered a blood clot on his right arm. Surgeons at the Sanatrix Clinic in the city were forced to amputate the arm above the elbow. On May 19, Stritch suffered a stroke. He died eight days later at age 70. After lying in state at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and then at the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Chicago, ==Legacy==

• Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, closed in 2023 • Cardinal Stritch High School in Oregon, Ohio • Cardinal Stritch High School in Keokuk, Iowa, closed in 2005 • Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. ==See also==