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"C" is for Corcoran, James Andrew (1820-1889)

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"C" is for Corcoran, James Andrew (1820-1889). Theologian, educator, editor. Corcoran attended the boys’ Classical Academy founded in Charleston by Roman Catholic Bishop John England. The bishop sent him to Rome for further study and he was ordained in 1842. Returning to Charleston, he taught at the Classical Academy, did parish work, and served as editor of the United States Catholic Miscellany. In its pages he vigorously defended Catholicism and states’ rights and attacked abolitionists. When South Carolina seceded, he renamed the paper the Catholic Miscellany. In 1868 he was chosen by the American bishops as their representative in Rome to participate in the First Vatican Council. At the council James Andrew Corcoran successfully opposed European proposals to condemn the American principles of freedom of worship and the separation of church and state.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.