By Thomas J. Craughwell

Father of country put stop to anti-Catholic holiday

On 'Pope Day,' rowdy mobs would parade effigy of pontiff through Boston streets, then burn it

We know George Washington as the commander who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolution, and the first president who set the standard for all the American presidents who followed him. Less well-known is the decisive part Washington played in eradicating an anti-Catholic "holiday" known as Pope Day.

In Washington's day, every Nov. 5 in Boston, a rowdy mob paraded through the streets with a crude effigy of the pope (usually accompanied by an effigy of the devil). At every house, the leader of the parade demanded money "to buy the pope a drink." If the homeowner refused, the mob broke his windows. At the end, the effigies of the pope and the devil were burned.

The "celebration" commemorated Nov. 5, 1605, when a Catholic named Guy Fawkes was seized just as he was about to ignite a cellar full of gunpowder and blow up King James I, along with the entire English Parliament. In England, Nov. 5 was known as Guy Fawkes Day, and his effigy, along with the pope's, was carried through the streets to a bonfire. In Boston, however, Fawkes was forgotten and the pope became the focus of the mob.

Anti-Catholic sentiment

If it sounds incredible that such a thing could have happened in Boston, bear in mind that in 1775, at the start of the American Revolution, only one of the 13 colonies -- Pennsylvania -- permitted Catholics to practice their faith freely. In the other 12 colonies, Catholics were forbidden to hear Mass or receive the sacraments; Catholic priests who set foot in Massachusetts and New York risked imprisonment or hanging; and in Maryland, which had been founded as a refuge for Catholics, anti-Catholic elements took over the government and outlawed the practice of the Catholic faith in the colony.

As for Washington's religious convictions, he attended the services of the Anglican church and believed firmly in God, although he looked with skepticism on most points of Christian doctrine. He may have been a skeptic, but he was no bigot, and he had no tolerance for public demonstrations of bigotry.

'Childish custom'

On Nov. 5, 1775, the Continental Army, under the command of General Washington, was encamped in Cambridge across the Charles River from Boston. When he learned that some of the officers and men were preparing to celebrate Pope Day, he wrote an order forbidding it. First, he derided "that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the effigy of the pope," and expressed his astonishment "that there should be officers and soldiers in this army so void of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this juncture."

The American Revolution was not yet seven months old. The colonies needed allies such as Catholic France or, closer to home, the French Catholics of Canada to come to their help. Washington put it bluntly: "At a time when we are solliciting [sic], and have really obtain'd, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada  to be insulting their religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused."

His mockery appears to have been fatal to Pope Day -- within a few years the observance died out. Today, the most boisterous parade Boston celebrates is on St. Patrick's Day.

Presidential series

With the start of primaries across the United States, the U.S. presidential election is at full throttle. Our Sunday Visitor has reported on the hopefuls in the race for the White House and their connections to Catholics and Catholic teaching.

Now, we take a look at how past U.S. presidents have related to Catholics in a new eight-part series, written by historian Thomas J. Craughwell. The pieces will run the second Sunday of every month through August.

Next month: President Thomas Jefferson reassures the Ursuline nuns of New Orleans that, unlike the French Revolution, the Americans will not seize their property, force them to renounce their allegiance to the pope or persecute them in any way.

Thomas J. Craughwell is the author of "Stealing Lincoln's Body" (Harvard University Press, $24.95) and Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Cardlinks series.