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Serving Two Masters: Roman Catholic Chaplains in the Armies of the Confederate States of America
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Davila, Carl
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2021-12-14
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During the American Civil War, Roman Catholic priests and bishops found themselves
on opposite sides of a great political debate. Immigrants and the sons of immigrants, they
responded to the crises of their time while still striving to honor their vows and to minister to
those most in need. French, German, Irish, and American-born, these men endeavored to win
social legitimacy in the United States. However, despite the moral deficiencies of the
Confederate cause, several Catholic priests served as chaplains to the armies of the South. The
willingness of these men to subscribe to a cause which denied liberty and equality to all men
clearly demonstrates the “confederatization'' of Southern Catholics during the Civil War. Some
among these military chaplains sought merely to minister to those most in need around them.
Others joined the Confederate armies, driven not by their zeal for God and the Church, but by
their political inclinations and social expediency. Secession and slavery presented Southern
Catholics with an opportunity to affirm their patriotism, and to be recognzied as something other
than an outsider. While these men remained true to their sacerdotal vows throughout their
ministry, they also subverted the fundamental elements of Christian belief. Fidelity to their
priestly charisms of ecclesial obedience, chastity, and poverty (for some) stood separate from
their fidelity to the moral teachings of the Church. By denying enslaved men and women their
humanity, preaching against emancipation, and taking up arms against the United States,
Confederate chaplains earned the trust and respect of their respective secessionist communities.
In so doing, though, they bent their knees to temporal approbation.
While not all of these individuals overtly exhibited racist ideology, the majority did. Even
those men who ministered to freed persons of color still, ultimately, served a government whose
existential bedrock was racial subjugation and oppression. Personal bravery, pious devotion, and
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dutiful ministry do not excuse such behaviour. They do, however, place it into the broader
context of American Catholicism in the mid-19th Century. Evangelical zeal led Catholics of the
South even deeper into the prevailing tide of racism. However, far more commonly and
pragmatically, “evangelization” was a gilded vestment veiling unorthodox Christian beliefs,
thoughts, and practices. The ministerial service provided by these men to Southern armies
certainly addressed the practical spiritual needs of the men in gray. However, it often devolved
into evangelism, not of the Gospel, but of radical Confederate ideology. This adulteration of
these priests’ priestly duties betrays the broader inclinations of Southern Catholics to embrace
politics and social attitudes incongruous with the teachings of their faith. As pastors, teachers,
and preachers, these men exerted their influence to justify the Confederate cause under the guise
of piety and devotion.