Martin Hehir
Encyclopedia
Martin A. Hehir (ˈhɛər), C.S.Sp.
(November 10, 1855 – June 19, 1935) was a Roman Catholic priest
and the fourth president of Pittsburgh Catholic College (later called Duquesne University
). Hehir served as president of the university from 1899 until 1930. In Hehir's thirty-one years of presidency, the small college grew to become a university and the seventh largest Catholic school in the United States. After his retirement, Hehir served as Superior of the Holy Ghost Missionary College
near Philadelphia, and then as the Superior of the Spiritan Fathers at Ferndale Seminary in Norwalk, Connecticut
until his death.
, County Clare
, Ireland
in 1855. He graduated from Blackrock College
in 1887, having obtained a traditional classical education. After teaching there for three years, Hehir went on to receive theological training at the Theological College in Chevilly
outside of Paris and was ordained as a priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in 1883. He came to Pittsburgh in 1884 as a professor of languages at the Pittsburgh Catholic College. By 1892, he was Vice-President of the College.
on August 20, 1899. His first move was to reorganize the College, creating a clearly defined College Division (akin to the four-year college track common in the United States today), as distinct from the Preparatory School, as well as taking steps to reconcile ethnic tensions between the Irish administration of the College and the German Catholic community in Pittsburgh. He also reconciled the college debt by 1900.
Several Catholic institutions at the time were making moves toward university status, so in 1910, Hehir's administration decided to submit an application to a special College and University Council from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Nine months of hearings and evaluations ensued; on March 30, 1911, the petition for a change of charter was granted, and the college was reincorporated as a university. At the time, it was the only Catholic university between Washington, D.C.
and South Bend, Indiana
.
Father Hehir's vision of expansion for the new university was the impetus for the foundation of a law school
in September 1911, and in 1913, the Business School was founded as the School of Accounts, Finance, and Commerce. A personal dream of Hehir's—the foundation of a School of Speech Arts and Drama—was also accomplished in 1913. Various other departments and schools were founded at Duquesne before World War I
, including a School of Social Services, the School of Graduate Studies, and Departments of Sanitary Science and Public Health, Vocal and Instrumental Music, Fine Arts, Pre-Medical, Spanish Language, and Latin American Commerce.
After World War I
, Duquesne University was in a position to expand its physical facilities. Father Hehir undertook a vigorous fundraising campaign, and a gymnasium and academic building were constructed. With the additional space provided by these new constructions, the university founded a School of Pharmacy
, which was officially opened in September 1925. In 1926, the School of Music
was also founded, offering "melody writing, Gregorian Chant
, and other forms of musical composition". Completing this spree of expansion was the foundation of the School of Education
in 1927.
Throughout these years of expansion, Father Hehir maintained a tradition of student assemblies, which imparted a sense of intimacy and elevated Hehir to the status of a father figure. In fact, most students knew him solely by a term of endearment, "Daddy Hehir". These assemblies frequently addressed student behavior.
Father Hehir's thirty-one year presidency has been the longest by far of any Duquesne president. His administration saw a sixfold increase in enrollment from 1911 to 1921, and witnessed Duquesne emerge to become the seventh-largest Catholic school in the country; this meteoric rise can be attributed largely to Hehir's pragmatism and commitment to serving the Catholic community in Pittsburgh during a time when immigrants struggled to assimilate into larger society. Moreover, at the beginning of his presidency, Hehir took stock of the needs of the immigrant community in Pittsburgh and transformed the Pittsburgh Catholic College from a basically liberal arts school into an institution with a focus on more practical disciplines in legal and commercial fields.
, near Philadelphia. Later, he served as Superior of the Senior Seminary of the Holy Ghost Order at Ferndale, in Norwalk, Connecticut.
While in Norwalk, Father Hehir received news that he was terminally ill with cancer. He announced that he wished to die in the city of Pittsburgh, and on June 9, 1935, he died at Mercy Hospital
, only three blocks away from Duquesne University. Future Spiritan priest and president of Duquesne University Henry J. McAnulty
, an undergraduate student at the time, served at Hehir's funeral mass
on June 11, 1935.
Hehir's body was then taken from the university chapel to St. Paul's Cathedral
, where a vigil was held by alumni throughout the night. A funeral, celebrated by the provincial of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Fr. Henry J. Goebel, followed at the cathedral on June 12. A second mass was held at 10 a.m. by Hehir's successor as president, J. J. Callahan
; an Office of the Dead
, attended by Pittsburgh Bishop Hugh C. Boyle
, and Bishop Daniel F. Desmond
of Alexandria, Louisiana
, preceded the Mass. Afterwards, the body was moved to Holy Ghost College at Cornwell Heights for a mass and subsequent interment.
Joseph Rishel, in his history of Duquesne University, The Spirit that Gives Life, writes of Father Hehir that "never, before or since, would one man be such an overshadowing figure to the school". Hehir maintained a highly visible presence in the day-to-day life of the university, participating in and supporting college events, and taking personal interest in the lives of students. A popular legend of his presidency was that Father Hehir had two groups of student files: one for "those who can pay" and another for "those who cannot pay"; he was often willing to bankroll the education of talented students, confident that the school would be repaid later. His relationship with the deans of the schools was also notably good: all the founders of the various schools—except one—still headed those schools at the time of his retirement.
St. Martin's Hall, a 15-story high-rise residence hall for freshman students at Duquesne, was constructed in August 1962 and named after Father Hehir.
Holy Ghost Fathers
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests, lay brothers, and since Vatican II, lay associates...
(November 10, 1855 – June 19, 1935) was a Roman Catholic priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and the fourth president of Pittsburgh Catholic College (later called Duquesne University
Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...
). Hehir served as president of the university from 1899 until 1930. In Hehir's thirty-one years of presidency, the small college grew to become a university and the seventh largest Catholic school in the United States. After his retirement, Hehir served as Superior of the Holy Ghost Missionary College
Holy Ghost Preparatory School
Holy Ghost Preparatory School is a private, college preparatory school for young men in Cornwells Heights, Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1897 by the Spiritan missionaries, it is also a Catholic school....
near Philadelphia, and then as the Superior of the Spiritan Fathers at Ferndale Seminary in Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
until his death.
Personal background
Martin Hehir was born near KildysartKildysart
Kildysart, officially Killadysert , is a village in County Clare, Ireland. It is on the north bank of the Shannon Estuary on the R473 coastal route between Ennis and Kilrush. Recently re-branded as 'The Fisherman's Haven' it is famed for the excellent fishing resources nearby.-Facilities:Although...
, County Clare
County Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 1855. He graduated from Blackrock College
Blackrock College
Blackrock College is a Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys aged 14–18, located in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. The College was founded by French missionaries in 1860, to act as a school and civil service training centre. Set in of grounds, it has an illustrious...
in 1887, having obtained a traditional classical education. After teaching there for three years, Hehir went on to receive theological training at the Theological College in Chevilly
Chevilly-Larue
Chevilly-Larue is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Name:Chevilly-Larue was originally called simply Chevilly...
outside of Paris and was ordained as a priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in 1883. He came to Pittsburgh in 1884 as a professor of languages at the Pittsburgh Catholic College. By 1892, he was Vice-President of the College.
President of Duquesne University
Fifteen years after he had arrived in Pittsburgh, Father Hehir became president of the Pittsburgh Catholic College, succeeding Father John MurphyJohn Tuohill Murphy
John Baptist Tuohill Murphy, C.S.Sp. was an Irish Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, who served from 1886 to 1899 as the president of the Pittsburgh Catholic College, which was later renamed Duquesne University in 1911 when it gained university status...
on August 20, 1899. His first move was to reorganize the College, creating a clearly defined College Division (akin to the four-year college track common in the United States today), as distinct from the Preparatory School, as well as taking steps to reconcile ethnic tensions between the Irish administration of the College and the German Catholic community in Pittsburgh. He also reconciled the college debt by 1900.
Several Catholic institutions at the time were making moves toward university status, so in 1910, Hehir's administration decided to submit an application to a special College and University Council from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Nine months of hearings and evaluations ensued; on March 30, 1911, the petition for a change of charter was granted, and the college was reincorporated as a university. At the time, it was the only Catholic university between Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
.
Father Hehir's vision of expansion for the new university was the impetus for the foundation of a law school
Duquesne University School of Law
Duquesne University School of Law is a private Catholic university law school located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The School of Law was founded in 1911, and is the only multiple-division law school in western Pennsylvania. Located on the Duquesne University campus, the law school is walking...
in September 1911, and in 1913, the Business School was founded as the School of Accounts, Finance, and Commerce. A personal dream of Hehir's—the foundation of a School of Speech Arts and Drama—was also accomplished in 1913. Various other departments and schools were founded at Duquesne before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, including a School of Social Services, the School of Graduate Studies, and Departments of Sanitary Science and Public Health, Vocal and Instrumental Music, Fine Arts, Pre-Medical, Spanish Language, and Latin American Commerce.
After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Duquesne University was in a position to expand its physical facilities. Father Hehir undertook a vigorous fundraising campaign, and a gymnasium and academic building were constructed. With the additional space provided by these new constructions, the university founded a School of Pharmacy
Mylan School of Pharmacy
The Mylan School of Pharmacy is one of the ten degree-granting divisions that comprise Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school's first pharmacy class matriculated in September 1925 under the leadership of the founding dean, Dr. Hugh C. Muldoon, and graduated in 1928...
, which was officially opened in September 1925. In 1926, the School of Music
Mary Pappert School of Music
The Mary Pappert School of Music is one of the ten degree-granting divisions that comprise Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-History:...
was also founded, offering "melody writing, Gregorian Chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
, and other forms of musical composition". Completing this spree of expansion was the foundation of the School of Education
Duquesne University School of Education
The School of Education is one of the ten constituent colleges that compromise Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1929, the school was organized by Holy Ghost Father and future university president Raymond V. Kirk, who led the school until 1940...
in 1927.
Throughout these years of expansion, Father Hehir maintained a tradition of student assemblies, which imparted a sense of intimacy and elevated Hehir to the status of a father figure. In fact, most students knew him solely by a term of endearment, "Daddy Hehir". These assemblies frequently addressed student behavior.
Father Hehir's thirty-one year presidency has been the longest by far of any Duquesne president. His administration saw a sixfold increase in enrollment from 1911 to 1921, and witnessed Duquesne emerge to become the seventh-largest Catholic school in the country; this meteoric rise can be attributed largely to Hehir's pragmatism and commitment to serving the Catholic community in Pittsburgh during a time when immigrants struggled to assimilate into larger society. Moreover, at the beginning of his presidency, Hehir took stock of the needs of the immigrant community in Pittsburgh and transformed the Pittsburgh Catholic College from a basically liberal arts school into an institution with a focus on more practical disciplines in legal and commercial fields.
Retirement and death
An official announcement that Hehir would resign from the office of present was made in Pittsburgh newspapers on October 13, 1930. The Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost subsequently reassigned Hehir as Superior of the Holy Ghost Missionary College in Cornwell HeightsCornwells Heights-Eddington, Pennsylvania
Cornwells Heights-Eddington is a census-designated place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2000 census....
, near Philadelphia. Later, he served as Superior of the Senior Seminary of the Holy Ghost Order at Ferndale, in Norwalk, Connecticut.
While in Norwalk, Father Hehir received news that he was terminally ill with cancer. He announced that he wished to die in the city of Pittsburgh, and on June 9, 1935, he died at Mercy Hospital
UPMC Mercy
UPMC Mercy is a main hospital facility of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and is located in the Uptown section of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, adjacent to downtown Pittsburgh and a few blocks from the Mellon Arena...
, only three blocks away from Duquesne University. Future Spiritan priest and president of Duquesne University Henry J. McAnulty
Henry J. McAnulty
Henry Joseph McAnulty, C.S.Sp. was an American Catholic priest. A Spiritan, McAnulty served as the ninth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1959 until 1980, and afterwards as university chancellor until his death.-Early years and education:Henry McAnulty was born on...
, an undergraduate student at the time, served at Hehir's funeral mass
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
on June 11, 1935.
Hehir's body was then taken from the university chapel to St. Paul's Cathedral
Cathedral of Saint Paul in Pittsburgh
The Cathedral of Saint Paul is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
, where a vigil was held by alumni throughout the night. A funeral, celebrated by the provincial of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Fr. Henry J. Goebel, followed at the cathedral on June 12. A second mass was held at 10 a.m. by Hehir's successor as president, J. J. Callahan
Jeremiah J. Callahan
Jeremiah Joseph Callahan, C.S.Sp. was a Roman Catholic priest and the fifth president of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, from 1931 until 1940.-Personal background:...
; an Office of the Dead
Office of the Dead
The Office of the Dead is a prayer cycle of the Liturgy of the Hours in the Roman Catholic Church, said for the repose of the soul of a decedent. It is the proper reading on All Souls' Day for all souls in Purgatory, and can be a votive office on other days when said for a particular decedent...
, attended by Pittsburgh Bishop Hugh C. Boyle
Hugh Charles Boyle
Hugh Charles Boyle was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1921 until his death in 1950.-Biography:...
, and Bishop Daniel F. Desmond
Daniel Francis Desmond
Daniel Francis Desmond was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Alexandria in Louisiana from 1933 until his death in 1945.-Biography:...
of Alexandria, Louisiana
Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana
The Diocese of Alexandria is the Roman Catholic diocese for central Louisiana, based in Alexandria, with its see at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral...
, preceded the Mass. Afterwards, the body was moved to Holy Ghost College at Cornwell Heights for a mass and subsequent interment.
Legacy
By the end of Father Hehir's presidency he was being lauded for the positive legacy he left at Duquesne and in the city of Pittsburgh. A Mr. Reis declared at his retirement dinner that "There is no other living man in the city of Pittsburgh who by his work and his labor has rendered so much good and has radiated such a wonderful influence over this community as [Father Martin Hehir]."Joseph Rishel, in his history of Duquesne University, The Spirit that Gives Life, writes of Father Hehir that "never, before or since, would one man be such an overshadowing figure to the school". Hehir maintained a highly visible presence in the day-to-day life of the university, participating in and supporting college events, and taking personal interest in the lives of students. A popular legend of his presidency was that Father Hehir had two groups of student files: one for "those who can pay" and another for "those who cannot pay"; he was often willing to bankroll the education of talented students, confident that the school would be repaid later. His relationship with the deans of the schools was also notably good: all the founders of the various schools—except one—still headed those schools at the time of his retirement.
St. Martin's Hall, a 15-story high-rise residence hall for freshman students at Duquesne, was constructed in August 1962 and named after Father Hehir.