Although a Thursday, the national day of mourning struck most Northerners like a Sunday. Businesses and government offices were closed and people repaired to their churches where they prayed and heard sermons on Lincoln. Pat McNamara at his blog in 2012 noted the remarks after communion of Father Sylvester Malone, the founder of Saints Peter and Paul parish in Brooklyn:
Go here to read more on Father Malone at McNamara’s Blog.
Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, and it’s not surprising that an Irish cleric in NYC would idealize a politician like this; many, especially Irish priests, were strongly influenced by an Americanist bent that sometimes clouded their Catholicity. It’s one thing to bemoan a criminal and evil assassination, but to refer to the America of Manifest Destiny as “the most humane” government?
The Indians, the Mexicans, the civilians who suffered under Grant in Georgia and Hunter and Custer in the Shenandoah valley might disagree. But none of them were enlightened Yankees like this Irish priest, so we can safely discount their perspectives on the Federal government’s “humaneness.”