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Father Daniel Hugh Cassidy
The following are records chronicling
the life of Father Daniel Hugh Cassidy.
Rev. Daniel Hugh Cassidy, 88, active in Josephite community
Photo: Father Don and sister Eileen Cassidy in
1943.
 The
Rev. Daniel Hugh Cassidy, a retired Irish Roman Catholic priest well
known in East Baltimore, died Tuesday (April 8, 2003) of heart and
kidney failure at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 88.
Father Cassidy, who divided his 50 years of active
ministry almost exclusively between Maryland and Louisiana, had
resided since 1993 at St. Joseph Manor, a Baltimore retirement home
for Josephite priests and brothers.
Father Cassidy was born in Donegal, Ireland. His
parents moved with him and his seven siblings to Boston when he was
7. By 1936,
he had decided to become a priest and entered Mary
Immaculate Novitiate in Newburgh, N.Y.
A year later, he was accepted at the St. Joseph
Seminary in Washington, D.C., where for six years he studied
philosophy, theology and the Josephite mission of serving
African-American Catholics.
The Josephite community was started in England in
1866 to send missionaries to the United States to minister to
African-Americans freed from slavery, especially the high
concentrations of black Catholics in Maryland and Louisiana. The
first four Josephite priests arrived in 1871 and established
headquarters in Baltimore at St. Francis Xavier Church.
Steeped in the Josephite tradition, Father Cassidy
was ordained as a priest May 29, 1943, and was immediately assigned
to work at St. Francis Xavier's new East Baltimore location at
Caroline and Eager streets.
It was here the 29-year-old priest with the slight
brogue made his first impression on the black community. Father
Cassidy often walked along Caroline Street extending his help to
anyone who needed it.
From 1943 through 1951, Father Cassidy ministered to
the community and pushed for integrating Catholic schools. He helped
start the first Catholic Students Interracial Council in 1945, and
he integrated the Catholic Students Mission Crusade.
During his eight years in the parish, 890 people
converted to Catholicism at St. Francis Xavier. Two of those
converts were Clarence Du Burns, who in 1987 became Baltimore's
first black mayor, and Americus Roy, who in 1971 became the nation's
first African-American permanent Catholic deacon.
"He was a dynamo," Mr. Roy of Baltimore's St. Pius V
Church said of Father Cassidy. "Even when he left for years, he
could come back and never forget a name."
Mr. Roy said Father Cassidy encouraged young men to
play sports in a church hall at Eden and Ashland streets, casually
explaining the Catholic faith afterward. When the games were over,
the children piled into his car, and Father Cassidy drove each one
home.
Aside from his community work, Father Cassidy was
also well known for his skills at the piano and the organ -- and,
most notably, in the kitchen.
The Rev. Robert Kearns of Baltimore, superior
general of the Josephite community, said priests came from all over
the Baltimore region to enjoy Father Cassidy's cooking on Sunday
nights.
"He would bake a great ham that he would never serve
without slices of pineapple," Father Kearns said.
Father Cassidy's influence extended into Baltimore
County. Although he left in 1951 for Louisiana, his work in the
county's Turners Station neighborhood led to the establishment in
1956 of the Christ the King parish.
He returned to Baltimore in 1963 and served as the
pastor of St. Veronica Church in Cherry Hill for nearly six years.
He was again assigned to Louisiana in 1968, but 14 years later, at
his request, he returned to St. Francis Xavier.
In 1984, he turned 70 and decided to move to
Donegal. But he could not stay away from Baltimore, returning to the
city on several occasions.
In 1993, a heart attack forced him to retire, and he
did so at St. Joseph Manor, where he remained until his death.
Services were held Saturday at St. Francis Xavier.
Father Cassidy is survived by two sisters, Ita
Downer of Yonkers, N.Y., and Eileen Cassidy of Framingham, Mass.
--Doug Donovan, Sun Staff, April 14, 2003
Copyright 2003, The Baltimore Sun
Fr. Cassidy to Say
First Mass Sunday in Dorchester Church
Newspaper article from 1943
 Rev.
Daniel H. Cassidy, S.S.J., son of Mrs. Julia Cassidy and the late
Francis Cassidy of 32 Athelwold S., Dorchester, will celebrate his
first solemn public mass next Sunday morning at 11:30 in St. Leo's
Church, Esmond St., Dorchester. Assisting at the mass will be Rev.
Francis L. Whearly, S.S.J., deacon; Rev. Francis A. Dynan, S.S.J.,
subdeacon; William Clancy, S.S.J., master of ceremonies. John
Lennon, S.S.J. will be thurifer; Eugene McKenna, S.S.J., and Francis
Cassidy, acolytes, and Benjamin Horton, S.S.J., soloist.
Rev. Arthur J. O'Leary,
S.S.J., master of novices at the Mary Immaculate Novitiate in
Newburg, N.Y., will preach the sermon. Seated in the sanctuary will
be the pastor of the church, Rev. John Callahan, Rev. Thomas Conlon
and Rev. John McCarthy.
The young priest was
ordained at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington,
D.C. last Saturday as a member of the Society of St. Joseph, whose
members labor among the Negroes in this country. He attended the
Oliver Wendell Holmes School, English High, Boston College High
School and Boston College. He made his novitiate with the Josephites
in one year and completed his six years of seminary training at St.
Joseph's Seminary, Washington, D.C.
Fr. Cassidy is one of 12
ordained this golden jubilee year of the order. The society began
half a century ago as an independent American institution in
Baltimore with a mere handful of priests. During the years, the
society has grown and spread until it now embraces 173 priests
laboring on 111 missions from Boston to San Antonio, Tex.
After a short stay at
home, Fr. Cassidy will return to Washington and await assignment to
begin his active missionary work.
Remembrance
by "Miss Kathy"
from June 1993 during Father Don's golden jubilee year
It
was Father Don's silver jubilee year when I was welcomed into the
Cassidy family. Both in Boston and Baltimore, the sun shone
brightly, and the weather was hot. On October 12, 1968 Father Don
traveled from Louisiana to the Bronx to perform our wedding. We
enjoyed the telegrams he sent from Mrs. Borax and the Debobidy
Insurance Co. and were delighted with the Beleek vase Father carried
back on the plane from Ireland as our wedding present.
Through the years Father
has served as our link to Frank's childhood and our three children
and I will always enjoy hearing his anecdotes. Special favorites of
mine are: Frank and cousin Marie's first driving experience, the
beach outings to Nantasket ending with pails of sand dumped in the
closet, and the song, "It's a Short Way to Mrs. Mitchell's."
Father Don's holiday grab
bags are unique. His thoughtfulness and sense of humor always
prevail. Just check with sisters Eileen and Ita about their large
collection of cats and dogs.
Thanks for it all.
Proclamation
by Mayor William Donald Schaefer, designating June 3,
1984, as "Father Daniel H. Cassidy Day" in Baltimore
Whereas,
Father Daniel H. Cassidy, S.S.J., was ordained on May 29, 1943 and
became Associate Pastor at Saint Francis Exavier Church at Caroline
and Eager Streets from 1943 through 1951; and
Whereas, during the years
of his Associate Pastorship at Saint Francis Xavier Church, Father
Cassidy became well known to many young adults and was personally
responsible for increasing the membership by bringing many converts
into the Church; and
Whereas, Father Daniel H.
Cassidy is a faithful servant of God and is a spiritual director in
every sense of the word; and
Whereas, after an absence
of many years, Father Daniel H. Cassidy returned home to Saint
Francil Xavier Church in June, 1982 to the many parishioners who love
and know him well.
Now therefore, I William
Donald Schaefer, Mayor of the City of Baltimore, do hereby proclaim
June 3, 1984 as "Father Daniel H. Cassidy Day" in Baltimore, and do
urge all citizens to recognize and applaud the many spiritual and
temporal contributions of this holy man of God to his congregation.
In Witness Whereof, I have
hereunto set by hand and caused the Great Seal of the City of
Baltimore to be affixed this third day of June, in the year of Our
Lord, one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four.
Josephite Celebrates
50th Anniversary
by Frank J. Cassidy
Newspaper article from June 1993
BOSTON-- Fifty years ago,
Mass was celebrated in Latin, and the priests faced away from the
congregation. Today they speak English and face the congregation.
Many changes have occurred since Father Daniel Cassidy became priest
in 1943.
Family and friends joined
together for a mass and reception last Sunday in Boston, where
Father grew up after emigrating from Ireland.
Reading Uncle Tom's
Cabin in grammar school made such a strong impression on him
that it drew him to the Josephites, whose mission primarily involves
helping poor African Americans in the South. His current parish, St.
Francis Xavier in Baltimore, is the oldest continuous African
American parish in the country. The Josephites are currently
celebrating their one-hundredth anniversary.
The work he did in the
South was considered revolutionary, since it occurred during a time
where there was a great deal of racial tension. In New Orleans,
where he worked for a numbers of years, he taught English to
children whose native language was Creole. His nephew Donald stated
Father's intention for Creole children to have their own school to
learn English, "so that they would be better educated than their
parents."
His sister Eileen recalls
how he told their mother that he wanted to become a priest. She
said, "He handed her a note, which was strange." Eileen and her
husband Frank were the first couple Father married, which was two
days after his ordination.
Father Daniel spent a
great deal of time with children. An old friend, Father Peter
Kenney, said "Whenever you saw a crowd of young people, you knew
that Father Cassidy was there." He went on to say that in creating a
coat of arms for Father Daniel, he would include a shamrock, for his
love of Ireland, a piano for his love of music, and a coffee pot to
symbolize his hospitality.
His nephew Donald spoke of
Daniel's desire to create a better way of life for the people of
Ireland. Father Daniel brought duck eggs over with him and
introduced new farming techniques in order to present new sources of
food to Irish people.
Daniel summarized his
fiftieth anniversary by saying, "I'm glad I've lived this long, and
I hope I'll live much longer." He wishes he could be more active in
his church, but he is hampered by old age. Ideally, he wants more
people to become priests. In fifty years, he sees the job of being a
priest as being the same, yet "people's problems have changed." |
