158 years ago: Philadelphia Bible Riots

By Edward T. O’Donnell

One hundred fifty-eight years ago this week, on May 6, 1844, the City of Brotherly Love erupted in one of the most violent riots of the antebellum period. For three days native-born Protestants attacked the Irish Catholic neighborhoods of the Kensington section of Philadelphia, leaving in their path a trail of death and destruction. Known as the “Bible Riots,” they put Irish Catholics on notice that an active — and potentially violent — anti-Irish movement was gathering strength.

The very name of the incident — Bible Riots — gives a clue as to their origins. As growing numbers of Irish Catholics began pouring into the port cities of the East Coast, they began to build churches and parochial schools. Both were considered essential by many of the Catholic clergy for the preservation of the faith in the face of dominant Protestant culture. But try as they might, clerics in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and elsewhere could never build schools fast enough to accommodate the surging numbers of Irish immigrants. The only option was to send Catholic children off to the public schools. Controversy was soon to follow.

The fight began in early 1842 when Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick formally requested the Philadelphia school board remove offensive textbooks (spelling books, for example, that asked students to define words like “papist”) from the public schools and that Catholic students be allowed to read from the Douay version of the Bible (the standard Catholic edition) instead of the Protestant King James version with its annotations and commentaries that were often at odds with Catholic teaching. In addition, Kenrick asked that Catholic children be excused from so-called “morning devotionals,” arguing that Catholics should not be forced to participate in a religious practice of another faith. The board did nothing about the offensive textbooks or bible issue, but did eventually pass a law allowing Catholic children to leave the room during morning devotionals.

The decision placated Kenrick, but enraged many of the city’s Protestant clergy, who denounced the measure as an attack on the Protestant foundation of American society. In response, more than 50 clergymen formed the American Protestant Association, a group dedicated to stopping the spread of Catholicism in the United States. They had little trouble finding widespread support in a society that had long possessed a strong tradition of hostility toward Catholicism as a superstitious religion presided over by an autocratic pope. The mass influx of Catholics, they argued, threatened American democracy because Catholics owed complete allegiance to the pope and were thus incapable of being good republican citizens.

So when Catholic bishops tried to de-Protestantize the public schools of America’s large cities like Philadelphia, it set off nativist alarm bells. By the mid-1840s, public schools had come to be revered, almost sacred institutions in the minds of Americans. They were, as one advocate put it, “the pillars of the republic.” No matter who entered the public schools — even vicious Catholic immigrants — they were transformed into productive, thrifty, sober, punctual, and obedient citizens. The idea that Catholic bishops would dare to interfere with this process convinced many nativists that they were trying to either destroy the system or, worse, take it over.

Trouble in Philadelphia began in February 1842 when nativists began circulating a rumor that a Catholic public school official in the heavily Catholic suburb of Kensington had suspended morning devotionals. In truth, he’d only recommended the action, arguing that the exodus of Catholic children was disruptive. Nativists, now represented by the American Republican Party, seized on the rumor and soon began holding “save the bible” rallies that drew thousands.

In late April, after an Irish mob had harassed a nativist meeting, American Republican Party leaders announced plans to hold a rally in Kensington. On May 3, nativists built a platform near a local school for a rally scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. The moment the first speaker began to speak, the Irish (who outnumbered the nativists by more than two-to-one) in the crowd stormed the stage and tore it down. The nativists fled, but vowed to return — in greater numbers — on May 6.

About 3,000 people turned out for the rally in Kensington that May 6. Just as the first speaker was hitting his stride, a downpour erupted and scattered the crowd. Many took refuge in a large Irish marketplace nearby. When the speaker tried to continue his harangue in the marketplace, the Irish in the crowd heckled him. A shoving match broke out and quickly disintegrated into a full-scale riot. A Catholic named Patrick Fisher was shot in the face. A Protestant named George Schiffler likewise took a bullet and died. Thousands more poured out of their homes and joined the fray. The violence on both sides escalated and in an hour Kensington was in a state of anarchy. Houses, shops, and churches were sacked and burned. Many were shot or beaten to death.

That night posters went up all over Philadelphia imploring its Protestant men to come to the defense of their city. The next morning the nativist press hit the streets. “The bloody hand of the pope,” railed one editor, “has stretched forth to our destruction. Now we call on our fellow citizens, who regard free institutions, whether they be native or adopted, to arm. Our liberties are now to be fought for — let us not be slack in our preparations.” More rioting ensued that evening in Kensington and again the next. Finally, the state militia was brought in and order was temporarily restored. But the mob returned, drove off the militia, and then set fire to St. Michael’s Church, St. Augustine’s church and a Catholic convent. All were reduced to ashes, as were dozens of nearby homes.

Only when the militia posted notices that they would fire upon rioters did the violence cease. The Bible Riots of May 1844 resulted in 9 dead and 20 wounded and cost more than $250,000 in damage to property. Still, it wasn’t over. A second Bible Riot broke out in July when a nativist mob attacked a contingent of the state militia guarding a Catholic church in the Southwark section of Philadelphia. Ten more were killed in the fracas — mostly members of the nativist mobs shot by the Irish and militia.

The Bible Riots in Philadelphia were neither the first nor the last incidents of their kind. Serious outbreaks of violence against Irish Catholics erupted in Boston, Baltimore, New York, and other cities in the decades before the Civil War. Over time, as the numbers of Irish immigrants in these places grew and as they began to acquire political power, the violence subsided. Rhetorical and political nativism, however, would remain strong for the rest of the century — and into the next.

HIBERNIAN HISTORY WEEK

May 3, 1592: Red Hugh O’Donnell crowned King of Tyrconnell, succeeding his father.

May 4, 1836: The Ancient Order of Hibernians is founded in New York City.

May 5, 1981: Hunger striker Bobby Sands dies.

HIBERNIAN BIRTHDATES

May 2, 1871: The “fighting priest” of World War I, Fr. Francis Duffy, is born in Cobourg, Ontario.

May 4, 1867: Journalist Nellie Bly is born in Cochrane’s Mills, Pa.

May 5, 1914: Actor Tyrone Power is born Cincinnati.

Read about Ed O’Donnell’s new book, “1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History,” or contact him at www.EdwardTODonnell.com.