Edward L. Hearn

Count Edward Leo Hearn Template:Post-nominals (August 2, 1865 – July 12, 1945) was the fifth Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus from April 1, 1899, to August 31, 1909.Template:Sfn

Early life and career

Hearn was born in the Fort Hill neighborhood of Roxbury in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1865 to Irish immigrants.Template:Sfn His father was a tailor, and he had two brothers and a sister.Template:Sfn One brother, Edward, became a Jesuit priest.Template:Sfn The family moved to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and he graduated from Hopkinton High School.Template:Sfn

Hearn had private tutors who prepared him for college, but upon graduation instead went to work at a shoe factory.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He then became a traveling salesman and opened a shoe store in Laconia, New Hampshire.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He eventually became president of the insurance firm the Casualty Company of America.Template:Sfn For a time he lived in South Framingham, Massachusetts.

He was friends with Joseph PelletierTemplate:Sfn and Condé Benoist Pallen.Template:Sfn

Knights of Columbus

Massachusetts

Hearn was the founding grand knight of the Coeur de Leon Council of the Knights of Columbus in Framingham, Massachusetts.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He served three terms as grand knight from 1894 to 1896, and from 1895 to 1899 was a supreme director of the order.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1897 he was elected the second State Deputy of the Massachusetts Knights of Columbus from February 2, 1897, to September 1, 1899.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As state deputy, he increased the number of councils to over 100, and to over 10,000 members.Template:Sfn

Supreme Knight

At the 1899 convention, Hearn was in his hotel room when Congressman William S. McNary knocked on his door on the evening following the first session.Template:Sfn McNary and several others entered his room and informed him that after a night of caucusing that he was their choice for Supreme Knight.Template:Sfn Hearn initially declined, citing the demands of his job as a traveling salesman.Template:Sfn He eventually agreed to allow his name to be put forth, and the next morning he was elected the fifth Supreme Knight in 1899 by a vote of 30-26.Template:Sfn He would hold that office for ten years.Template:Sfn

Following his election, Hearn moved to New Haven, Connecticut.Template:Sfn During those years the number of councils grew from around 300 to over 1,300, membership climbed from 40,000 to nearly 230,000,Template:Sfn and 40 new jurisdictions were established.Template:Sfn The Order also spread further across the country in 31 states and the around globe in Mexico, Cuba, Panama, and the Philippines.Template:Sfn

During a visit to Mexico City in September 1905 to oversee the establishment of Guadalupe Council number 1050, the first council south of the Rio Grande, he was greeted by Mexican President Porfirio Díaz at the home of John B. Frisbie.Template:Sfn During his second visit the following February to confer the third degree, a banquet was held in his honor and he met with Archbishop Próspero Alarcón.Template:Sfn

As Supreme Knight, he was instrumental in raising funds to endow a chair of American history at Catholic University of America.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hearn, who viewed the Order as a sort of Catholic anti-defamation league, said at the presentation of the check that "non-Catholic historians ... find no room in their histories to laud the magnificent work done in the early days of the nation by the Catholic missionaries and Catholic pioneers, ...These are the evils we seek to remedy by founding this Chair of American History."Template:Sfn He also raised funds to establish a scholarship fund for graduate students to attend the national university.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

As Supreme Knight, Hearn also oversaw the institution of the Fourth Degree of the orderTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and was involved in Catholic anti-deformation efforts.Template:Sfn

European work

Hearn declined another term as Supreme Knight, but retired from the insurance industry in 1910 so that he could work full-time with the Knights of Columbus. During and after the Knights' efforts in World War I, Hearn became the Knights' Overseas Commissioner, overseeing the order's support of the troops and post-war rehabilitation work.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

He was also called upon by the Vatican to oversee several charitable works, including the Knights' project to build playgrounds for children in Rome.Template:Sfn This request came at the personal request of Pope Benedict XV, who was worried about Protestant churches who were moving into Rome, dedicating churches on the "Anniversary of the Downfall of Papal Power," and setting up athletic facilities with the intent of converting the young people of Rome.Template:Sfn Benedict's successor, Pope Pius XI, insisted that the facilities be open to all regardless of religion, a prospect which pleased Hearn, and donated a parcel of land for the project, that he could see from his apartment in the Vatican.Template:Sfn

As Hearn was preparing to shut down the Order's work in Europe in the early 1920s, he reported back that Pope Benedict's request came as a surprise to him.Template:Sfn Following the request, he proposed that the Knights should establish a headquarters in Rome where English speaking tourists could be received and at least two athletic fields with showering facilities to be overseen by Italians.Template:Sfn The Board approved Hearn's requests and awarded him an initial salary of $6,000 a year, which was later increased to $10,000 a year.Template:Sfn

Several years later, amid tensions between the Italian government and the Vatican, comments attributed to Hearn in a Paris newspaper caused the Vatican to ask the Knights to recall Hearn back to the United States.Template:Sfn Hearn, who had already announced his intention to retire following the completion of a project in Rome, returned to the United States in the early 1930s.Template:Sfn Upon his return, the Board authorized a temporary salary of $5,000 a year for Hearn to work as a consultant to the Order.Template:Sfn

Personal life and later years

Hearn was honored with the Order of St. Sylvester, Order of St. Gregory the Great, Order of Malta, and the Order of Bl. Pius IX.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He was created a Papal count by Pope Pius XI in 1926.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn France awarded him the Legion of Honor and Belgium decorated him with the Order of Leopold II.Template:Sfn He was also a Privy Chamberlain of the Order of the Sword and the Cape.

With his wife, Mary (Template:Nee Healey), Hearn had one son and one daughter.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn After stepping down as Supreme Knight, he moved to Mamaroneck, New York.Template:Sfn

Hearn died July 12, 1945, in Mamaroneck,Template:Sfn and is interred at St. Peter's Cemetery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.Template:Sfn The gravesite was restored and a plaque was added in 1990.Template:Sfn

Works cited

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