Edward MacCabe

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Edward Cardinal MacCabe
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Dublin |

Edward Cardinal MacCabe (Dublin, 14 February1816 - Kingstown11 February 1885) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1879 until his death.

He was the son of poor parents, educated at Father Doyle's school on the Quays and at Maynooth College, and was ordained priest in 1839. After his ordination he served successively as curate in Clontarf and at the pro-cathedral, Marlborough St. in Dublin. He was selected, in 1854, for the See of Grahamstown in South Africa. He turned it down, and in 1856 became parish priest of St. Nicholas Without, in Dublin.

In 1865 he was transferred to the more important parish of Kingstown, and became a member of the chapter and vicar-general. For the twelve following years his was the ordinary life of a pastor. Cardinal Cullen selected McCabe as assistant, who was in due course consecrated titular Bishop of Gadara.

The following year Cardinal Cullen died, and in 1879 McCabe became Archbishop of Dublin. Three years later he received the cardinal's hat, created Cardinal-Priest of S. Sabina by Pope Leo XIII on 27 March 1882.

These were troubled times in Ireland, the years of the Land League and of the National League, of violent agitation and savage coercion, when secret societies were strong in Dublin, and the Phoenix Park murders and many others of less note were committed. Like his predecessor, Cardinal McCabe had a distrust of popular movements. Brought up in the city, he was unacquainted with agrarian conditions and he identified with the political movement under Parnell and Davitt. In pastorals and public speeches he ranged himself against agitation and on the side of government and law, with the result that Nationalist newspapers and publicmen attacked him as a "Castle" bishop, who favoured coercion and was an enemy of the people. His life was threatened and for a time he was under the protection of the police.

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09484a.htm "Catholic Encyclopedia" article "Edward McCabe"]