Clergy Dissent in the Old South 1830-1865

[LincolnToddFan]

Eva, thanks for the article. It confirmed what I suspected about Pius IX and his attitude toward the conflict. I disagree 99%, with his ideas, especially the conclusion that the propagation of Catholicism would be easier and more amenable in the South, due to the conservative social structure. What about the huge influx of Catholic immigrants into the North from Ireland, Italy, Poland, etc? For many decades before being replaced by Los Angeles, the archdioceses of New York and Chicago had more Catholics than anywhere in North America. The Northern, liberal bent of those cities did not stop the Catholic faith from spreading like wildfire. And for years no Catholic communities were as devout and as loyal to Rome as those Irish-Americans immigrants in the North.

Ah well. The attitude and opinions of his Holiness are a perfect examples of the limits of papal infallibility.

Scott and Laurie, thanks much for the information and the sources provided. As for the "crown" story I agree that it's much more likely that the gift was from Davis's own deeply religious wife Varina than from the pope.