A Catholic Chaplain Becomes a Hero

ship, sunset, slave ship, slavery

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.–John 15:13-14 (KJV)

The Sinking of the Maine, 1898: What Happened

The nighttime explosion was massive and unexpected.  When Catholic Chaplain John Chidwick staggered onto the deck, he saw the forward part of the ship had completely collapsed.  Writing in The American Catholic, Donald McClarey relates

When he arrived on deck on the night of the destruction of the Maine, Father Chidwick instantly gave a mass absolution. He then sprang into action, rescuing wounded, giving first aid, and giving the last rites. He seemed to be everywhere that grim night. Donald R. McClarey, “Hero of the Maine”

Another description on the FindAGrave website is more vivid: 

The sight [which] met his eyes was terrible.  The pride of the American navy was a mass of twisted steel…fire was raging in every part of the of the vessel and the shrieks and groans of the wounded and dying were heart rending …A Havana newspaper, the next morning stated the voice of the chaplain could be heard over the waters of Havana Harbor calling to the men to consign themselves to the Almighty.”

The Sinking of Maine: Why It Happened

The ordeal had begun the latter part of January 1898, when the United States armored cruiser USS Maine was dispatched to Havana, Cuba.  Three years earlier insurgents had revolted against Imperial Spain, which had colonized the island centuries before.   This war for independence had garnered great American sympathy.   President McKinley announced the visit would be a friendly one but numerous reports suggested a more sinister move was underway.   According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Secretary of the Navy John Long announced the visit was “purely of a friendly nature.”   The actual purpose of the visit was to protect American business and personal interests on the island.

Three weeks later, the Maine blew up and sank from a “terrible explosion,” according to the New York Tribune.  The battleship explosion occurred at 9:40 PM, while most of the 355 member crew was asleep.  266 officers and sailors died and 89 survived.  One of the survivors was Father John J. Chidwick, the Maine’s thirty-five-year-old chaplain, who was commissioned as a chaplain in 1895, the third Catholic for the American navy,.  

The actual cause of the explosion has been debated for years; most investigations have concluded it was caused by a torpedo fired either by Spanish or revolutionary forces.  Another theory proposes a spontaneous coal-dust fire near the ship’s magazine as the cause.

Catholic Chaplain, the Hero of the Maine

In 1935 when Father Chidwick died, Admiral W. T. Culverius, who had served as a naval cadet aboard the Maine, recalled:

Chidwick was everywhere present.  He had a word of cheer to the injured which soothed their pain.  Without thought of himself he helped the helpless and he ministered to the dying who will welcome to him now in that Great Ship’s Company above, were shipmates never part. Letter to the New York Times

The ship’s captain (Charles Sigsbee) was so impressed by Chidwick’s zealous efforts that he prompted the Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long, to write a letter of commendation.  In it Long formally expressed the Navy’s acknowledgment of

Your heroic devotion to duty; your tender sympathy with suffering; your care for the dead; your fearless fidelity to your post mark you as a true servant to the Master.  You have set an example for the emulation of every chaplain in the Navy. 

Within weeks, era newspapers made Chidwick the hero of the Maine.  For examples, the Sacramento Record-Union asserted he was the

good Samaritan [who] devoted himself body and soul to the wounded and dying. [and] one of two sons of a widowed mother…and a sister, [who was] a nun…[and] his father [who] served with distinction…during the civil war… After conducting burial services for the dead, it fell upon the chaplain to write letters of condolences to the next of kin.

After the Spanish-American War

Two men emerged as the face of the short war—Colonel Theodore Roosevelt would become President while Father John Chidwick, for the rest of his life, would thereafter be known as the Hero of the Maine.  Chidwick would eventually become a monsignor and his career carried him to the position of Rector of Dunwoody, New York’s St. Joseph’s Seminary and in 1924 the presidency of College of New Rochelle.

Shortly after his death in 1935 a monument to the Maine was erected in New York City’s Columbus Circle which was dedicated to the “popular and outgoing” Chidwick’s memory.

Sources

Battleship Maine Goes to Havana, San Francisco Call, January 25, 1898, page 10

Maine Blown Up at Havana, New York Tribune, February 16, 1898, page 1  

Warship Maine Destroyed, Salt Lake Herald, February 16, 1898, page 1 

Reverend John P. Chidwick, March 18, 1898, Sacramento [CA] Record Union, page 7   

Chaplain Chidwick, Valentine [NE] Democrat, March 24, 1898, page 2

War May be Declared in Next Ten Days, San Francisco Call, March 26, 1898, page 1  

Action at Last, Washington [DC] Times, April 19, 1898, page 1 

War Has Been Declared Against Spain, Paducah [KY] Daily Sun, April 21, 1898, page 1 

Cuba is Now Free, Saint Paul [MN] Globe, April 21, 1898, page 1 

A State of War Exists, Washington [DC] Times, April 25, 1898, page 1 

Chaplain Denies Story, Rock Island [IL} Argus, March 16, 1912, page 1 

 

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