View source for Joseph Sadoc Alemany

{{short description|Spanish priest}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend
| name = Joseph Sadoc Alemany
| honorific-suffix = 
| archbishop_of = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco|Archbishop of San Francisco]]
| image = His grace Joseph Sadoc Alemany, CSD - Arch Bishop of San Francisco - H. Steinegger ; lith. Britton & Rey, S.F. LCCN2012645529 (cropped).jpg
| caption = 
| province = 
| diocese = 
| see = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco|San Francisco]]
| enthroned = July 29, 1853
| ended = December 28, 1884
| predecessor = 
| successor = [[Patrick William Riordan]]
| ordination = March 11, 1837
| ordained_by = [[Gaspare Bernardo Pianetti]]
| consecration = June 30, 1850
| consecrated_by = [[Giacomo Filippo Fransoni]]
| other_post = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey|Bishop of Monterey]] (1850–1853)
| birth_name = Josep Sadoc Alemany i Conill
| birth_date = {{birth date|1814|7|3}}
| birth_place = [[Vic, Spain|Vic]], [[Catalonia]], Spain
| death_date = {{death date and age|1888|4|14|1814|7|3}}
| death_place = [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]], Spain
| buried = Church of Sant Domènec, Vic, Catalonia, Spain (1888-1965); [[Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California)|Holy Cross Cemetery]], [[Colma, California]], United States
| nationality = [[Spain|Spanish]]<br/> [[United States|American]] (ca. 1855)
| religion = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
| residence = 
| parents = Antoni Alemany i Font & Miquela dels Sants Conill i Saborit
| spouse = 
| children = 
| occupation = 
| profession = 
| alma_mater = [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas]]
| signature = 
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of Preachers|O.P.]]
}}
{{infobox bishopstyles
 | name       = Joseph Sadoc Alemany
 | dipstyle   = [[The Most Reverend]]
 | offstyle   = [[Your Excellency]]
 | relstyle   = [[Monsignor]]
 | deathstyle = none
}}
'''Joseph Sadoc Alemany''', [[Dominican Order|O.P.]] ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]: '''''Josep Sadoc Alemany i Conill'''''; July 3, 1814 – April 14, 1888) was a Spanish [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]] prelate who served as [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco|Archbishop of San Francisco]] from 1853 to 1884. He previously served as the first [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California|Bishop of Monterey]] from 1850 to 1853. He was a member of the [[Dominican Order]].

==Early life==
Joseph Alemany was born in [[Vic, Catalonia]] in Spain on July 3, 1814, to Antoni Alemany i Font and Miquela dels Sants Conill i Saborit.<ref name="BDA1906p73" /> Alemany entered the [[Dominican Order]] in 1829 at age 15, studying theology at a convent in Vic and the [[Convent de Sant Domènec de Girona]] in Girona, Spain.<ref name="BDA1906p73" /> He made his solemn profession of [[religious vows]] to the Dominicans in 1831.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=McGloin |first=John B. |date=1951 |title=The Coming of Joseph Sadoc Alemany, O.P., Pioneer Prelate of El Dorado |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44210186?read-now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=203–212 |issn=0002-7790}}</ref>

In 1834, an outburst of deadly [[1834 massacre of friars in Madrid|anti-clerical rioting in Spain]] prompted Reverend Tomasso Cipolletti, the Dominican [[Master of the Order of Preachers|grandmaster]], to offer Alemany and other Dominican seminarians refuge in the Dominican convent in [[Viterbo|Viterbo, Italy]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Starrs |first=Paul M. |date=1952 |title=The California Chronicle of Francis Sadoc Vilarrasa, O.P., 1850-1874 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25015346?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=415–436 |issn=0008-8080}}</ref> Alemany began studying at the College of St. Thomas, the future [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas]], where in 1840 he was made Lector in Theology.<ref>"Upon the completion of his studies, he was awarded the degree of Lectorate in Theology at the Minerva, one of the venerable centers of Dominican life and culture." ''Mission West: The Western Dominican Province 1850-1966'', 1995, Western Dominican Province Oakland, California, {{cite web|url=https://www.opwest.org/uploads/archive/missionwest/Mission%20West%20-%20Chapter%202.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-05-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522074705/https://www.opwest.org/uploads/archive/missionwest/Mission%20West%20-%20Chapter%202.pdf |archive-date=May 22, 2014}} Accessed May 21, 2014.</ref>

=== Priesthood ===
Alemany was [[Holy Orders|ordained]] a [[Catholic priest|priest]] for the Dominican Order in [[Viterbo Cathedral]] in [[Viterbo|Viterbo, Italy]], on March 11, 1837, by Archbishop [[Gaspare Bernardo Pianetti]]. During his studies in Rome, Alemany had an audience with [[Pope Gregory XVI]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany y Conill [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/balemany.html |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref>

The Dominican superiors sent Alemany to conduct missionary working in the [[Ohio|State of Ohio]] in the United States in 1841. He was transferred to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1842 and then [[Memphis, Tennessee]] in 1845.  He became a [[Naturalization|naturalized]] American citizen that same year.The Dominicans in 1847 appointed him as master of novices in Kentucky in 1847 and then in 1849 as prior provincial for the Dominicans in the American Midwest.<ref name="BDA1906p74" /><ref name=":3" />

=== Bishop of Monterey ===
[[File:Pius IX, by Adolphe Braun, 1875.jpg|thumb|362x362px|Pope Pius IX (1875)]]

==== Preparation for departure ====
In 1849, Alemany traveled to Rome to attend a meeting of the general chapter of the Dominicans in [[Naples, Italy]]. His abilities as a missionary, plus his fluency in Spanish, had attracted the attention of the papal court at this time.<ref name="BDA1906p74" />  [[Pope Pius IX]] appointed Alemany as the first bishop of Monterey on May 31, 1850,

On June 11, Cardinal [[Giacomo Filippo Fransoni]] summoned Alemany to a meeting and informed of his  appointment as bishop.  Alemany declined it because he had no desire to become a bishop. When Pius IX learned about Alemany's answer, he ordered him to appear in a private audience on June 16. The pope told Alemany, "You must go to California....Where others are drawn by gold, you must carry the Cross." Alemany accepted the appointment and was consecrated by Fransoni as Bishop of Monterey on June 30 in Rome at the  [[Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso|Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso]]. Alemany became the first bishop of California since it became an American territory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Kevin |title=History |url=http://www.diocese-sacramento.org/History/history.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060628124824/http://www.diocese-sacramento.org:80/History/history.html |archive-date=2006-06-28 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.diocese-sacramento.org}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

When Alemany became bishop, his new diocese covered the states of California, Nevada and Utah.  During the early 19th century, the Catholic Church owned thousands of acres of land in the Spanish colonies in California. However, the Mexican Government in 1835 expropriated and redistributed most of that land.<ref name=":02">{{cite web |title=Monterey County Historical Society, Local History Pages--Secularization and the Ranchos, 1826-1846 |url=http://mchsmuseum.com/secularization.html |access-date=26 October 2017 |website=mchsmuseum.com}}</ref><ref name=":1">Land in California: The Story of Mission Lands, Ranchos, Squatters, Mining ... By William Wilcox Robinson, p. 29: The ''cortes'' (legislature) of New Spain issued a decree in 1813 for at least partial secularization that affected all missions in America and was to apply to all outposts that had operated for ten years or more; however, the decree was never enforced in California.</ref>

As a result, the new diocese of Monterey lacked both money and personnel.  During the summer of 1850, Alemany visited England, France and Ireland, trying to raise money and recruit religious sisters. He did not have any success recruiting sisters until he arrived the Monastery of the Cross in Paris. He found three volunteers at the convent, including Sister Mary Goemaere, a Belgian [[novice]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Dougherty |first=M. Patricia |date=1994 |title=Adventure and Authority in Gold Rush California: Mary Goemaere and the Foundation of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael |url=https://scholar.dominican.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=history-faculty-conference-presentations |access-date=February 8, 2025 |website=Dominican University of California}}</ref>

Alemany, the sisters, and Reverend Francis Sadoc Vilarassa, another Dominican priest, left [[Liverpool, England]] in September 1850 on the ''SS Columbus'' for New York City. Alemany made stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. to preach and raise money. He originally planned to send all the sisters to a Dominican convent in Ohio, then decided that Goemaere should accompany him to California.  The group finally  sailed to [[Panama]], traveled by mule and [[dugout canoe]]  to the Pacific Coast, and took a steam ship to California.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

==== Arrival in California ====
Alemany, Goemaere and Vila finally arrived in San Francisco in December 1850. After a short time in San Francisco, Alemany traveled to Santa Barbara and then [[Monterey, California]]. Vilarassa in 1851 established the province of the Holy Name of Jesus, the first Dominican province in the Western United States.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" />

That same year, Alemany appointed Reverend [[John Nobili]], a Jesuit priest, as pastor of the Santa Clara Mission, He would found the Santa Clara School in [[Santa Clara, California]], for boys in 1851. It later became [[Santa Clara University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History - About SCU - Santa Clara University |url=https://www.scu.edu/aboutscu/history/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.scu.edu}}</ref>

In April 1851, Goemaere opened the Santa Catalina School for girls in Monterey. She established a convent that would become the [[Dominican Sisters of San Rafael]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://services.sanrafaelop.org/who-we-are/congregational-history/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20151203140233/http://services.sanrafaelop.org/who-we-are/congregational-history/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-12-03 |work=Dominican Sisters of San Rafael |title=Who We Are: Congregation History }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur founded the Academy of Notre Dame for girls in [[San Jose, California]], in 1851. It later became [[Notre Dame de Namur University]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-03 |title=Notre Dame de Namur University Accreditation |url=https://www.ndnu.edu/about-ndnu/accreditation-and-assessment/#:~:text=The%20Sisters%20of%20Notre%20Dame,University%20(NDNU)%20in%202001. |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.ndnu.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1853, Alemany filed a petition with the [[Public Land Commission]] of the State of California for the return of all expropriated mission lands.  He eventually received all the missions, their grounds and cemeteries, along with two large [[Ranchos of California|ranchos]], or estates:

* [[Rancho Cañada de los Pinos|Rando Cañada de los Pinos]] (College Rancho) in [[Santa Barbara County]], comprising {{convert|35499.73|acre|km2}}<ref name="Robinson1948" />
* [[Rancho Laguna (Alemany)|Rancho Laguna]] in [[San Luis Obispo County]], consisting of {{convert|4157.02|acre|km2}}.<ref name="Robinson1948" />

===San Francisco===
[[File:Moraga, CA USA - Saint Mary's College of California - panoramio (5).jpg|thumb|284x284px|Saint Mary's College of California, Moraga, California (2013)]]
[[File:Joseph Sadoc Alemany.JPG|thumb|Archbishop Alemany at [[Santa Clara University]] (1901)|413x413px]]
On July 29, 1853, Pius IX removed [[Northern California]], Nevada and Utah from the Diocese of Monterey and established this area as the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He appointed Alemany as its first [[archbishop]].<ref name=":0" /> At that time, the archdiocese had only three churches in San Francisco.

* [[Mission Dolores]], established by Spanish missionaries in 1776, used by Spanish residents<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Mission |url=https://www.missiondolores.org/old-mission |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.missiondolores.org |language=en}}</ref>
* St. Francis of Assisi, erected for Catholic soldiers in 1849<ref>{{Cite web |title=History – National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi |url=https://shrinesf.org/history/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* St. Patrick Church, established for Irish immigrants in 1851<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.stpatricksf.org/our-history |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241203162126/https://www.stpatricksf.org/our-history |archive-date=2024-12-03 |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.stpatricksf.org |language=en}}</ref>

As archbishop of San Francisco, Alemany presided over what became a multinational diocese, owing to the influx of people during the [[California Gold Rush]]. He established [[national parish]]es for San Francisco's Italian, Irish, French, German and [[Mexican people|Mexican]] communities.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061105104318/http://www.catholicvoiceoakland.org/Archives/Archive101804.html ''Presentation Sisters to celebrate 150 years'']}}</ref>

In 1855, the Jesuits opened St. Ignatius Academy for boys in San Francisco, It later became the [[University of San Francisco]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History {{!}} University of San Francisco |url=https://www.usfca.edu/who-we-are/san-franciscos-university/our-history |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.usfca.edu |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], there was a division of loyalties in San Francisco between supporters of the secessionist [[Confederate States of America]] and those of the federal government. In the summer of 1861, federal supporters started pressuring Alemany to fly the American flag from all the San Francisco churches on [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]], July 4. While expressing dismay at the start of the war, Alemany refused to fly the flags.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGloin |first=John Bernard |date=1962 |title=Catholic Attitudes in San Francisco During the Civil War |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44210431?read-now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia |volume=73 |issue=1/2 |pages=51–57 |issn=0002-7790}}</ref>

Alemany in 1862 founded [[Saint Mary's College of California|Saint Mary's College]] in Moraga, California, for the education of the children of working people. He turned the operation of the college over to [[De La Salle Brothers]] in 1868.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mission & History {{!}} Saint Mary's College |url=https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/about/mission-history |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.stmarys-ca.edu}}</ref>

In October 1866, Alemany attended the [[Second Plenary Council of Baltimore]], a meeting of the bishops and archbishops of the United States in [[Baltimore, Maryland]].<ref name=":4" /> The [[Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary]] founded [[Holy Names University|Holy Name University]] for girls in Oakland, California, in 1868.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-02 |title=Learn The History of HNU - Founded in 1868 |url=https://hnu.edu/about/history/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=hnu.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose were established in the archdiocese in 1876.In 1883, at Alemany's request, [[Leo XIII|Pope Leo XIII]] appointed Reverend [[Patrick William Riordan|Patrick Riordan]] as [[coadjutor archbishop]] to assist Alemany<ref name=":0" />

==Later life==
[[File:Joseph Alemany vault, Holy Cross.JPG|thumb|Alemany's tomb at [[Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California)|Holy Cross Cemetery]] in [[Colma, California]] (2010)|285x285px]]

Leo XIII accepted Alemany resignation as archbishop of San Francisco in early 1885. He then left San Francisco for New York City in early 1885. While in New York, he was introduced by [[William Rosecrans]], a former congressman from California, to US President [[Grover Cleveland]]. After traveling in Rome, Alemany was granted an audience with Leo XIII, who appointed him as [[titular bishop|titular archbishop]] of Pelusium on March 20, 1885.<ref name=":0" />

Alemany's final destination was the [[Convent of Santo Domingo (Valencia)|Convent of Santo Domingo]] in [[Valencia|Valencia, Spain]]. He spent the rest of his life working to rehabilitate the Dominican order in Spain. Alemany died at the convent on April 14, 1888.<ref name="BDA1906p74" /> He was buried in the Church of Sant Domènec in Vic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weber |first=Francis J. |title=THE RETURN OF THE ARCHBISHOP |url=https://www.dominicanajournal.org/wp-content/files/old-journal-archive/vol48/no3/dominicanav48n3returnthearchbishopjosephsadoc.pdf |access-date=February 10, 2025 |website=Dominicana Journal}}</ref>

In 1965, the Archdiocese of San Francisco brought Alemany's body back to California. Archbishop [[Joseph T. McGucken]] celebrated a [[requiem Mass|requiem mass]] for him at the [[Old Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception]]. His remains were re-interred in the Archbishops' Crypt in the mausoleum in [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma|Holy Cross Cemetery]] in [[Colma, California]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holman |first=Jim |date=2014-03-02 |title=‘You must really go to California’ |url=https://www.cal-catholic.com/you-must-really-go-to-california/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=California Catholic Daily |language=en-US}}</ref>

The following were named in honor of Alemany:

* [[Alemany Boulevard]] in San Francisco<ref>{{Cite web |title=Early San Francisco Street Names - 1846-1849 |url=https://sfmuseum.org/street/stnames3.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=sfmuseum.org}}</ref>
* [[Alemany Maze]] in San Francisco
* [[Bishop Alemany High School]] in [[Mission Hills, Los Angeles|Mission Hills, California]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alemany History |url=https://www.alemany.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=199454&type=d&pREC_ID=544937 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.alemany.org |language=en}}</ref>
* Archbishop Alemany Library at [[Dominican University of California]] in San Rafael<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Archbishop Alemany Library |url=https://www.dominican.edu/academics/archbishop-alemany-library |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.dominican.edu |language=en}}</ref>

== Publications ==
''The Life of St. Dominick And A Sketch Of The Dominican Order''.<ref name="BDA1906p74" />

==References==

===Citations===
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="BDA1906p73">{{harvnb|Johnson|1906|p=73}}</ref>
<ref name="BDA1906p74">{{harvnb|Johnson|1906|p=74}}</ref>
<ref name="Robinson1948">{{harvnb|Robinson|1948|pp=31–32}}</ref>
}}

===Sources===
* {{BDA1906 |wstitle= Alemany, Joseph Sadoc |volume= 1 |pages=73-74 |short=}}
* Mc Gloin, S.J., John B. ''California's First Archbishop: The Life of Joseph Sadoc Alemany, O.P., 1814–1888''. New York: Herder and Herder, 1966.
* Parmisano, Fabian Stan. ''Mission West:  The Western Dominican Province, 1850–1966''. Oakland, California: Western Dominican Province, 1995.
* Weber, Francis J. 1973. Joseph Sadoc Alemany: Harbinger of a New Era. Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop
* {{cite book
 | last         = Robinson
 | first        = W. W.
 | year         = 1948
 | title        = Land in California
 | location     = Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA
 | publisher    = University of California Press
}}
* ''Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume, 1607–1896''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967.

==External links==
{{commons category|Joseph Sadoc Alemany}}
{{wikiquote}}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071111072154/http://www.opwest.org/Archive/2003/200310/200310_dominican_friars.htm ''Dominican Friars: Pioneers in the Archdiocese''], opwest.org
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061105104318/http://www.catholicvoiceoakland.org/Archives/Archive101804.html ''Presentation Sisters to celebrate 150 years''], catholicvoiceoakland.org
*{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Joseph Sadoc Alemany|volume=1|pages=282-283}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{succession box |
    title=[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California|Bishop of Monterey]] |
    before=[[Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno]], [[Order of Friars Minor|O.F.M.]]<br />(as Bishop of Both Californias) |
    after=[[Thaddeus Amat y Brusi]], [[Congregation of the Mission|C.M.]] |
    years=1850–1853 }}
{{succession box |
    title=[[Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco|Archbishop of San Francisco]] |
    before=None (erected) |
    after=[[Patrick William Riordan]] |
    years=1853–1884 }}
{{S-end}}

{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California}}
{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Catholic Church|Spain|California}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alemany, Joseph Sadoc}}
[[Category:1814 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Vic]]
[[Category:Spanish Dominicans]]
[[Category:Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni]]
[[Category:Dominican missionaries]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States]]
[[Category:Spanish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Dominican bishops]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California]]
[[Category:Catalan diaspora in the United States]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic bishops from Catalonia]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholic bishops in North America]]
[[Category:American Dominicans]]
[[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Pius IX]]
[[Category:19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States]]
[[Category:Clergy from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of San Francisco]]
[[Category:Participants in the First Vatican Council]]
[[Category:Burials in the Province of Barcelona]]
[[Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California)]]