James Edward Quigley was a Canadian-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Buffalo, New York and Archbishop of Chicago. Quigley spoke six languages, which made him well-equipped to supervise dioceses with a number of large and varied immigrant communities.
While in Rome, Quigley was ordained a priest on April 13, 1879. Following his return to the United States, he served as pastor of St. Vincent's Church in Attica, New York until 1884, when he became rector of St. Joseph's Cathedral in Buffalo. He was transferred to St. Bridget's Church in the same city in 1886. Quigley preached in Latin, English, Italian and German. He was also conversant in French and Polish. He served for twelve years as the president of the Catholic Schools Board.
On December 12, 1896 he was appointed Bishop of Buffalo, where he was consecrated bishop on February 24, 1897 by Archbishop Michael Corrigan of New York. Nearly all the faculty and many of the students at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary went to Buffalo to observe the ceremonies. In keeping with Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclopedia Rerum novarum, Quigley took an active interest in working conditions. During the dock strike of Buffalo in 1899 the Lake Carriers' Association and the Longshoremen's Union chose him as mediator. After ten days of negotiations, the strike was settled on terms reached by the bishop. It was routine to pay workers in saloons, where often the saloonkeeper was also the hiring boss. This practice was terminated and prohibited by the terms of the agreement. In 1902 socialists had begun to influence the unions in Buffalo to the extent that in some instances regulations were adopted that the Catholic members found unjust and oppressive. At the request of a number of German priests, Bishop Quigley wrote a pastoral letter in German to be read in their congregations calling on Catholic union members to assert their rights regarding union governance. Mass meetings were held, at which Quigley spoke. He asserted the Church's support of labor unions, denounced socialism and explained why the Church opposed the principles of socialism. The result was that the socialists lost control of the labor unions, and Quigley gained a national reputation.
Archbishop of Chicago
Bishop Quigley was appointed Archbishop of Chicago, on January 8, 1903 and installed March 10, 1903. With Quigley's help, in 1905, Francis Kelley, future bishop of Oklahoma City, established the Catholic Extension Society to provide funding and resources to dioceses and parishes. As Chicago became increasingly industrialized, immigrants became a significant portion of the workforce. Like his predecessor, Archbishop Feehan, Quigley supported the establishment of ethnic parishes to address the needs of the newly arrived residents. In 1905 Quigley asked Father John De Schryver, SJ., a professor at St. Ignatius College, to organize a parish for the Belgian community; St. John Berchmans Parish at Logan Square was established. Other parishes were established for the Italian and Lithuanian communities. "Chicago's urban parishes flourished as an important spiritual, cultural, and educational component of Chicago's life." In 1908, twelve counties in the northwestern portion of the diocese were split off to form the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford. In December 1910, Archbishop Quigley approached Rev. Francis X. McCabe, C.M., President of DePaul University regarding the lack of opportunity for women to pursue higher learning in Catholic institutions. DePaul began admitting women the following year. In June 1912, Sister Mary Clemenza, B.V.M. and Sister Mary Teresita, were the first women to graduate from DePaul University. Quigley served as archbishop until his death at the age of 60. According to a resolution passed by the city council, Quigley was recognized as "...one of those men who work quietly and behind the scenes, and who seek no public credit or applause for the work which they do;...he spent himself...in particular in the service of the many and varied works of charity which have been founded..." The Quigley Center in Chicago is named in his honor.
