Sarah eventually dropped the middle name Nicolena in favor of her confirmation name, Maria. On Nov. 26, 1873, she married Judge William J. Tenney at Elizabeth, New Jersey. With the early death of Sylvester Brownson and the resulting straitened circumstances in which the family found itself, it became necessary for the widow to leave young Orestes, at the tender age of six, to the care of charitable neighbors. Raised on a small Vermont farm, he received little formal education, but he did have a voracious appetite for reading. Although his youthful years were spent under the care of Congregationalists, in 1822 he affiliated himself with the Presbyterian Church. A dislike for the harsh Presbyterian doctrines of predestination and eternal punishment, as well as for the narrow, illiberal and intolerant spirit of the Presbyterians with whom he associated, soon led him to become a Universalist. On June 15, 1826, he was ordained a Universalist minister and for the next few years he preached in various churches in Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. As he grew increasingly liberal in his religious views, he gradually withdrew from the Universalist communion. More and more he was attracted to preaching the cause of social reform. For a brief period in 1829 he associated himself with Robert Dale Owen and Fanny Wright in their communitarian schemes. He also helped organize the short-lived Workingman's Party in western New York.
Under the influence of William Ellery Channing and the latter's Unitarian circle, in 1832 he moved to Walpole, New Hampshire where he took up residence as pastor of the Unitarian Church. In 1834 he was called to serve as pastor at Canton, Massachusetts. In 1836 he moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts and organized his own church among the laboring classes of Boston, calling it "The Society for Christian Union and Progress" and preaching in the old Masonic Temple on Tremont Street. During the same year he published his first book, New Views of Christianity, Society, and the Church, in which he condemned Catholicism as mere spiritualism, and Protestantism as pure materialism. Instead, he raised a clarion call for his "Church of the Future" which would be a synthesis of both. He played a significant role in introducing Victor Cousin, Claude Henri de Saint-Simon and Benjamin Constant to New England. An early member of the Transcendentalist Club, he associated with Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Under the influence of his friend, George Bancroft, he became active in Democratic Party politics. Other associations included Theodore Parker, Albert Brisbane, with whose communal Brook Farm he sympathized, John C. Calhoun, whom he supported for the Presidency in 1844, and Isaac T. Hecker, a fellow convert to the Roman Catholic Church, who eventually founded the Congregation of St. Paul.
He had now became a force both on the platform and in the press. As a Universalist he had edited The Gospel Advocate, the magazine of that sect at Auburn, New York. In 1829 he had served briefly as corresponding editor of the Free Enquirer, the reform organ of Owen and Wright. At around the same time he established a magazine in support of the Workingman's Party in western New York. Much more of a journalist than a preacher, in 1831 he tried his hand at publishing his own magazine, The Philanthropist. However, the failure of many of his subscribers to pay their dues necessitated his ceasing publication in June 1832. During the next few years he contributed to various magazines, most notably The Christian Examiner. In 1836 he served as editor of the Boston Reformer for a brief period. In 1838 he once again turned his hand to publishing his own magazine. This time he called it the Boston Quarterly Review. Perhaps his most notable article during this period was "The Laboring Classes" published in July 1840. In it he violently attacked Christianity, the priesthood, and the modern industrial system, and indicted politicians generally as being too concerned with protecting the right of property. The "horrible doctrines" of that article, coming as they did from an aspiring member of the Democratic Party, were used against that Party. The article itself has been credited with contributing to the defeat of Martin Van Buren in his bid for the Presidency in 1840. At any rate it ended Brownson's budding political career.
At the end of 1842 he accepted an invitation from John L. O'Sullivan to merge his quarterly with O'Sullivan's monthly, The United States Magazine and Democratic Review. A growing disenchantment with the forces of unbridled democracy -- spurred no doubt partly by the outcry which his essay on "The Laboring Classes" had aroused, as well as by the subsequent victory of William Henry Harrison in the presidential election -- became evident in the articles he contributed to it. Chafing under O'Sullivan's criticism, in 1844 Brownson returned to the publication of his own quarterly which he now called Brownson's Quarterly Review. He continued to publish this Review through 1864, and, although he ceased publication from 1865 to 1872, in 1873 he revived and published it until 1875.
Just as Brownson's growing recognition of the necessity for some kind of authority in politics that could operate as a brake upon the potential excesses of "pure democracy" had led to his withdrawal from the Democratic Review, a similar search for an authority that could inform, guide, and correct, when necessary, the individual conscience in matters of religion led him on Oct. 20, 1844, into the fold of the Roman Catholic Church. He remained there, to the surprise of many who failed to realize the depth of his personal commitment, for the remainder of his life. It was not without tribulation. Many of his old subscribers deserted him because of his conversion. The gap was not completely filled by new Catholic subscribers. The pecuniary loss was heavy. The independent spirit of Brownson at times led to clashes with the ecclesiastical authorities, as well as with various groups among the Catholics, most notably with the Irish Americans. The pages of his Review now became devoted largely to attempts to win new converts to Catholicism, to the defense of Catholicism against the bitter attacks of her enemies, and to efforts to infuse a more Catholic spirit into the lives of his religious compatriots. Nevertheless, he continued to seek these aims in the context of articles on topics of general interest. In 1855 he changed the seat of his Review from Boston to New York where he now moved his family. In 1857 he took up residence at Elizabeth, New Jersey.
During the Civil War, he devoted his pages largely to the cause of the Union, demonstrating a point, the truth of which he had long endeavored to convince the critics of Catholicism, namely, that a Catholic could indeed be an American patriot. A brief personal reappearance in the political arena failed in 1862 when, running as a Republican, he was defeated in a bid for a congressional seat. In 1864 he actively supported the cause of John C. Frémont for the Presidency. Again he met failure. A dwindling number of subscribers, domestic afflictions, and physical infirmities led him to discontinue his Review at the end of 1864. However, he did not retire his pen. During the ensuing period he wrote for The Tablet, The Catholic World, and the Ave Maria. In 1873 he revived his Review and continued publication until the end of 1875. Again the emphasis, albeit not exclusively, was on religion, while the overriding issues of the times were reflected in pages devoted to the problem of reconstructing the Union, to the school question, to the supposed conflict between religion and science, to the Roman question, and to the problem of papal infallibility. In 1875 he moved from Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Detroit, Michigan, to reside with his son, Henry F. Brownson. His health was now rapidly declining. His last published article, "The Philosophy of the Supernatural," appeared in the American Catholic Quarterly Review for January 1876. On April 17, 1876 he went to his final reward. His mortal remains now lie in the Brownson Memorial Chapel in Sacred Heart Church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
Death had silenced the pen of Orestes Augustus Brownson, but his memory and spirit lived on. Over the years a lively interest in Brownson and his career has continued to endure. The vitality of that interest is demonstrated by the many visits which the Notre Dame Archives have had from scholars interested in the Brownson Collection.
In addition to the articles which he published in his Review and in other magazines, Brownson delivered a number of speeches and sermons, some of which are printed in his Works, and he produced several books: New Views of Christianity, Society, and the Church (Boston, 1836); Charles Elwood, or the Infidel Converted (Boston, 1840); The Mediatorial Life of Jesus (Boston, 1842); Essays and Reviews, Chiefly on Theology, Politics, and Socialism (New York, 1852), a collection of articles originally published in Brownson's Quarterly Review; The Spirit-Rapper (Cambridge, 1854); his autobiographical The Convert: or Leaves from My Experience (New York, 1857) ; The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies and Destiny (New York, 1865) and Conversations on Liberalism and the Church (New York, 1869).
The first and most extensive biography of Brownson is the three-volume study by his son, Henry F. Brownson: Brownson's Early Life, 1803-1844 (Detroit, 1898), Brownson's Middle Life, 1845-1855 (Detroit, 1899), and Brownson's Latter Life, 1856-1876 (Detroit, 1900). More recent biographies are Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s Orestes A. Brownson: A Pilgrim's Progress (Boston, 1939); Doran Whalen's Granite for God's House (New York, 1941); Theodore Maynard's Orestes Brownson: Yankee, Radical, Catholic (New York, 1943), and Americo D. Lapati's Orestes A. Brownson (New Haven, 1965), which is primarily a primer of Brownson's thought. Maynard's study, in addition to being the best biography of Brownson to appear thus far, also contains an extensive bibliography. Most of Brownson's publications were collected, edited, and published by Henry F. Brownson in the twenty-volume Brownson's Works (Detroit, 1882-1887).
[In the thirty years since this bibliographical note was composed, many other works on Orestes A. Brownson have been published. The following list includes all pertinent works held by the libraries of the University of Notre Dame arranged in chronological order.]
Thomas, Abel C. (Abel Charles), 1807-1880. Civilization and Roman Catholicism; a review of O.A. Brownson's four lectures. Philadelphia, Printed and published for the author, 1851.
Celts and Saxons, nativism and naturalization: a complete refutation of the nativism of Dr. Orestes A. Brownson. Boston, Published by Thomas Sweeney, 1854.
Brownson, Henry F. (Henry Francis), 1835-1913. Orestes A. Brownson's ... life ... Detroit, Mich., H. F. Brownson, 1898- 1900.
Michel, Virgil George, 1890-1938. The critical principles of Orestes A. Brownson. Washington, D.C., 1918.
Shaughnessy, Jerome, Sister. Dr. Orestes A. Brownson's philosophy of nationalism and some contemporary political problems. Notre Dame, Ind., 1926.
Francelia, Mary. Brownson's idea of progress. Notre Dame, Ind., 1927.
Raemers. Sydney A. (Sydney Albert), b. 1892. A critical examination into the alleged ontologism of Orestes A. Brownson. Notre Dame, Ind., 1929.
Raemers. Sydney A. (Sydney Albert), b. 1892. America's foremost philosopher. Washington, D.C., St. Anselm's priory, 1931.
Carrico, James A. Faith and reason as reconciled in the philosophy of Orestes A. Brownson. Notre Dame, Ind., 1934.
Sargent, Daniel, 1890- . Four independents. New York, Sheed & Ward, 1935. (Peguy, Charles, 1873-1914. Claudel, Paul, 1868-1955. Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 1844-1889. Brownson, Orestes Augustus, 1803-1876.)
Whalen, Mary Rose Gertrude, Sister, 1882- . Some aspects of the influence of Orestes A. Brownson on his contemporaries. Notre Dame, Ind., [c1933].
Whalen, Mary Rose Gertrude, Sister, 1882- . The influence of Orestes Augustus Brownson. South Bend, Ind., The Chimes press, 1936.
Plunkett, DeVere T. The concept of sovereignty in the writings of Orestes A. Brownson. Notre Dame, Ind., 1936.
Waddell, Paul R. Three spiritual autobiographies and some common psychological factors. Notre Dame, Ind., 1939. (Brownson, Orestes Augustus, 1803-1876. Day, Dorothy, 1897-1980. Moody, John, 1868- 1958.)
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, 1917- . Orestes A. Brownson; a pilgrim's progress. Boston, Little, Brown and company, 1939.
Whalen, Mary Rose Gertrude, Sister, 1882- . Granite for God's house; the life of Orestes Augustus Brownson. New York, Sheed & Ward, 1941.
McAvoy, Thomas Timothy, 1903-1969. Brownson's ontologism. [n.p. : n.pub.] 1942.
Maynard, Theodore, 1890-1956. Orestes Brownson, Yankee, radical, Catholic. New York, The Macmillan company, 1943.
Mitchell, Philip J. A study of Orestes A. Brownson's views on the Know-nothing movement. Notre Dame, Ind., 1945.
Murphy, Francis Ellen. Orestes A. Brownson's The convert as a record of American spiritual experience in the 1840's and 1850's. Notre Dame, Ind., [n.d.]
Farrell, Bertin. Orestes Brownson's approach to the problem of God; a critical examination in the light of the principles of St. Thomas Aquinas. Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 1950.
Power, Edward J. The educational views and attitudes of Orestes A. Brownson. Philadelphia, American Catholic Historical Society, 1951-52.
Roemer, Lawrence. Brownson on democracy and the trend toward socialism. New York, Philosophical Library [1953]
McAvoy, Thomas Timothy, 1903-1969. Orestes A. Brownson and American history. [s.l. : s.n.,] 1954.
McCarthy, Jay David. Orestes A. Brownson, a Catholic voice on the Civil War, 1861-1864. Notre Dame, Ind., 1956.
Malone, George K. The true church; a study in the apologetics of Orestes Augustus Brownson. Mundelein, Ill., Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary, 1957.
McGrath, James William, 1911- . The Catholicism of Orestes A. Brownson. [Albuquerque, N.M.] 1961.
Ayo, Nicholas. A study of Brownson's Boston quarterly review. 1962.
Marshall, Hugh, 1926- . Orestes Brownson and the American Civil War. Washington, D.C., 1962.
McAvoy, Thomas Timothy, 1903-1969. Orestes A. Brownson and Archbishop John Hughes in 1860. Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, 1962.
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, 1917- . Orestes A. Brownson; a pilgrim's progress. New York, Octagon Books, 1963 [c1939]
Faddoul, Germain. The harmonizng of faith and reason in Brownson's pre-Catholic experience. Notre Dame, Ind., 1963.
Lapati, Americo D. Orestes A. Brownson. New York, Twayne Publishers [1965]
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, 1917- . A pilgrim's progress: Orestes A. Brownson. Boston, Little, Brown [1966]
Kenny, Gregory Dominic, 1932- . An historical theological study of Orestes Brownson's thought on the Church and the progress of civil society. Washington : [s.n.] [c1967]
Sveino, Per, 1925- . Orestes A. Brownson's road to Catholicism. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget; New York, Humanities Press, 1970.
Marshall, Hugh, 1926- . Orestes Brownson and the American Republic; an historical perspective. Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 1971.
Gilhooley, Leonard. Contradiction and dilemma: Orestes Brownson and the American idea. New York, Fordham University Press, 1972.
Ireland, Robert E. (Robert Emerson), 1942- . The concept of providence in the thought of William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Orestes A. Brownson : a study in mid- nineteenth century American intellectual history Orono, University of Maine, 1972.
Bennett, Spencer Clare, 1940- . Orestes Brownson : on civil religion ; conflicts in the evolution of a concept of national faith. [Cleveland, Ohio] : Case Western Reserve University, 1973.
Leliaert, Richard Maurice. Orestes A. Brownson (1803-1876) : theological perspectives on his search for the meaning of God, christology, and the development of doctrine Berkeley, Calif., 1974.
Simpson, Eleanor Elizabeth, 1938- . The conservative heresy : Yankees and the "Reaction in favor of the Roman Catholics" : University of Minnesota, 1974.
Ryan, Thomas R. (Thomas Richard), 1898- . Orestes A. Brownson : a definitive biography. Huntington, Ind. : Our Sunday Visitor, c1976.
Dease, Dennis J., 1943- . The theological influence of Orestes Brownson and Isaac Hecker on John Ireland's Americanist ecclesiology. 1978.
Brownson, Orestes Augustus, 1803-1876. The Brownson-Hecker correspondence. Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, c1979.
No divided allegiance : essays in Brownson's thought. New York : Fordham University Press, 1980.
Lothamer, James William. Communion as an ecclesiological theme in the writings of Orestes A. Brownson : a study of Brownson's doctrine of communion in his ecclesiological writings from 1842-1844 and a review of his revival of the doctrine in 1857. 1980.
Killen, Patricia O'Connell. Critique and conversion : Orestes A. Browson's Catholic critique of industrialization. 1987.
Brownson, Orestes Augustus, 1803-1876. Selected writings. New York : Paulist Press, c1991.
Butler, Gregory S., 1961- . In search of the American spirit : the political thought of Orestes Brownson. Carbondale and Edwardsville : Southern Illinois University Press, c1992.
Power, Edward J. Religion and the public schools in 19th century America : the contribution of Orestes A. Brownson. New York : Paulist Press, c1996.
Carey, Patrick W., 1940- . Orestes A. Brownson, a bibliography, 1826-1876. Milwaukee : Marquette University Press, [c1996?]
Upon the death of Orestes A. Brownson in 1876 his papers were bequeathed to his son and literary heir, Henry F. Brownson. They remained in Henry's possession until 1900 when he donated them to the University of Notre Dame. While he retained the papers, Henry used them -- both correspondence and drafts -- in preparing his twenty-volume edition of Brownson's Works (1882-1887), and his three-volume biography of his father which appeared between 1898 and 1900.
At the Notre Dame Archives, the correspondence was placed in chronological order and, eventually, it was calendared. These calendars are available for use in the Archives, but they are not being filmed as part of the present project. Another finding aid, a chronological listing of items in the Collection, will be found on Roll I of this microfilm publication. In addition, that part of this chronological list which pertains to items on each particular roll has been filmed at the beginning of each such roll. A third finding aid, an alphabetical listing of correspondents, has been prepared as part of the present project and will be found in this guide.
The drafts for Brownson's published books and essays were left in a highly disorganized state and merely boxed up. The work of identifying and arranging them began only with the present project. The chronological list of items in the Collection has been expanded to include them. As a result of this recent organization of the drafts, they provide largely a virgin area for scholarly inspection and use. The correspondence, on the other hand, has been consulted and used by numerous scholars.
Over the course of the years a substantial number of items or copies of items have been obtained from other depositories. Included in this category, which consists largely of outgoing correspondence, are photostats of many letters in the Archives of the Paulist Fathers; photostats of letters and other items in the possession of the Odiorne family -- descended from Orestes through his daughter Sarah; original letters from the Sadlier family, with whose publishing firm Brownson conducted a good deal of business; and copies of material from numerous other depositories both in the United States and in Europe. Recently, the University of Notre Dame Archives, in its capacity as the Catholic Archives of America, has been in the process of acquiring microfilms of material relating to the United States from the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome, Italy. Among the items thus obtained are several letters written by Brownson as well as a number of letters and copies of letters about Brownson. Magnaprints have been made from the microfilm of these letters and placed with the Collection. All this material from other sources has been grouped together and filmed in an arrangement based upon the source. A complete list, item by item, will be found on Roll I of the present microfilm publication. The material itself will be found on Roll IX.
The entire Collection, with the exception of several hundred pages containing brief unidentifiable fragments of drafts that have no substantial research value, copies of certain items, copies of published material about Brownson, several notes relating to the use of the Collection, some material relating to the identification of various items in the Collection, and, finally, Henry Brownson's manuscript of the life of his father, has been filmed. The material left unfilmed is available for use at the Archives, and will be filmed specially upon request.
Editorial Procedure Brownson's Correspondence had been arranged chronologically and calendared prior to the inception of the present microfilm project. This arrangement has been preserved and perfected. Where dates have been supplied, they have been placed in brackets in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Question marks have been used to indicate questionable dates. Items dated only by month have been placed at the beginning of that month. Items dated only by year have been placed at the beginning of that year. Enclosures have been plaeed immediately after their cover letters. Both incoming letters and drafts for outgoing letters have been placed in the same overall chronological ordering of items. Undated items have been arranged in an alphabetical order, based upon the letter-writer's family name. Items, most of which are letters written by Brownson, from sources other than the original Collection have been placed after the correspondence in the original Collection in an arrangement based upon the source from which they were obtained. The drafts for Brownson's publications had not been arranged prior to the present project and were in a state of extreme disorder. As far as possible, the drafts for each particular essay have been placed together and then arranged in a chronological order based upon the publication date of that essay. The extensive index to Brownson's Works, edited by Henry F. Brownson, has been an invaluable tool in perfecting this arrangement. In many instances the volume and pages upon which the material eventually appeared in the Works have been indicated by a pencilled notation in brackets in the upper right- hand corner. In several instances such notations have been used to indicate volume and page numbers of Brownson's Quarterly Review. In the latter case the information is preceded by the initials "B.Q.R."
It has proven impossible in a substantial number of cases to identify particular pages with any particular published article. Some such pages contain titles given them by the author. These have been arranged alphabetically. In other cases, the pages have been grouped according to subjects dealt with and arranged alphabetically. In the course of arranging these manuscripts, a number of drafts of letters have been discovered. These have been dated, where necessary, and placed with the correspondence. The task has been difficult and it would certainly be amiss to claim that we have achieved perfection. However, our aim throughout has been to make the microfilm publication as useable as possible, taking into consideration the limitations of time and funds, for the scholar. It is hoped that we have achieved a certain measure of success in this. Throughout the microfilm targets have been used to call the scholar's attention to various defects in the documents which might otherwise be thought to be due to faulty microfilming, to identify various items, and to point up special problems that have arisen in arranging and microfilming the manuscripts. Targets have not been used in cases, such as for torn or mutilated pages, where the defects should be readily apparent to the user.
In a number of instances, pencilled numbers appear at the top of the first page of various items. These were so placed prior to the acquisition of the papers by the Notre Dame Archives and do not bear any necessary relation to the present arrangement of the papers. In certain other instances, the signatures of those who wrote letters have been cut away, again before the papers came into our possession. In both instances these discrepancies are readily apparent and, therefore, targets have not been used.
As an aid to identification and citation, each frame on each roll has been given a specific number which will be found on the lower right-hand comer of the frame. No matter how careful the editors and the filmers have been, there are bound to be cases where, after a whole roll has been filmed, it becomes necessary to either add or delete a frame. Obviously, this throws off the numerical sequence of the frame numbers. To meet this difficulty we have employed the following technique: when a frame has had to be added, we have used the number of the preceding frame and added an "A" to it; when a frame has had to be deleted, the number assigned to that frame simply does not appear. While these procedures are a compromise with perfection, they are realistic in terms of the problems which unfortunately arise in microfilming, especially when the alternative might well involve several refilmings of an entire roll.
A complete listing of all items microfilmed, in the order microfilmed, will be found on Roll One. In addition, each roll contains a complete list of all the items which appear on that roll.
This list contains the names, arranged alphabetically, of those who corresponded with Orestes Augustus Brownson and whose letters are found on the first eight rolls of this microfilm publication. Where one person has written more than one letter, the letters have been listed under his name in a chronological order. Where several persons have joined to send one letter, separate entries have been made for each person. The dates of each correspondent's letters are given in the same chronological order in which they are found on the microfilm. An exception has been in the case of enclosures, which have been filmed immediately after their cover letters. In such cases, two dates have been given: first, the date of the enclosure; and, second, the date of the cover letter. For example, E.D. Barker's letter of Feb. 5, 1862, to William D. Kelley is listed thus: 1862 Feb. 5 (to William D. Kelley, encl'd in 1862 Feb. 6, Kelley to O.A.B.). On the microfilm the reader will find the letter by referring to the date of the cover letter. Letters dated only by month and year will be found at the beginning of that month; letters dated only by year will be found at the beginning of that year. Letters dated only by decade will be found at the beginning of that decade. For example, a letter dated [186?] will be found at the very beginning of the letters for 1860. Undated correspondence has been filmed after the dated correspondence and arranged alphabetically according to the author's last name. This list does not include either the correspondence in the Scrapbook of Army Letters of Captain Edward P. Brownson, filmed on Roll Eight, or the correspondence acquired from other collections, filmed on Roll Nine. The correspondence from other collections has been filmed separately in units according to the source from which it has been obtained. A complete listing of this material will be found in the list of items microfilmed. On both the film and in that list this material has been placed after the undated correspondence in the original Orestes A. Brownson Collection.
[Summaries letters and other documents may be found by searching the online version of our calendar.]