The Second Founder: Bishop Martin J. O’Connor and the Pontifical North American College

On September 14, 1948–the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross—the College reopened, having been closed for eight years because of World War II. The few New Men arrived, not on the Via dell’Umilta, still controlled by the Italian government and in ruins, but to the war-ravaged, half-restored Villa Santa Caterina in Castel Gandolfo. In March, 1949 they finally entered the City, returning to the birthplace of the College near the Trevi; in October, 1953, to the new College sull’Gianicolo. The unsung hero, who reopened the College, restored the College properties and directed the construction of the New College was Bishop Martin J. O’Connor.

For two years, Monsignor Stephen DiGiovanni (NAC’77; CSM‘83) has researched the work of the first post-war rector and has completed a book about him: The Second Founder: Bishop Martin J. O’Connor and the Pontifical North American College. The archives of the Propaganda Fide, and of the College in Rome, those at The Catholic University of America, the Archives of the Archdiocese of New York, and those of the Knights of Columbus in New Haven generously shared their unpublished  correspondence and other documentation concerning these post-War events, so momentous for the life of the Catholic Church in the United States. The preface is by Raymond Cardinal Burke; the nihil obstat granted by Timothy Cardinal Dolan. You’ll find this a good read!

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The ISBN numbers are:
9781466961494 Hardcover
9781466961500 Softcover
9781466961517 E-Book