Kane explores the role of religious identity in Boston in the years 1900-1920, arguing that Catholicism was a central integrating force among different class and ethnic groups. She traces the effect of changing class status on religious identity and solidarity, and she delineates the social and cultural meaning of Catholicism in a city where Yankee Protestant nativism persisted even as its hegemony was in decline.

Militant and Triumphant fills a major gap in the historical record of American Catholicism by presenting a vivid, objective portrait of Cardinal William Henry O'Connell and his significance in the church and his times. Focusing on both the triumphs and controversies of O'Connell's career, James M. O'Toole chronicles the history of the Catholic Church in Boston in the first half of the twentieth century. The biography begins with a lively discussion of O'Connell's Irish immigrant youth and education and his early positions as rector of the American College in Rome and bishop of Portland, Maine. O'Toole convincingly demonstrates that as bishop, O'Connell actively built his own public image while ambitiously campaigning for the position of archbishop of Boston. The most enduring success, O'Toole argues, of O'Connell's 37-year tenure as archbishop of Boston--despite a sexual and financial scandal surrounding his nephew, the archdiocesan chancellor--was his elaboration of "a personal style of leadership that was different from that of earlier bishops, changing the expectations for Catholic bishops in America by thrusting on them the role of public figures they have generally south to play since." Throughout, the book examines O'Connell's cultural and symbolic leadership of New England's Catholic population, and describes O'Connell's role in defining American Catholicism as both "militant and triumphant": asserting its cultural vision beyond narrow denominational boundaries into broad areas of public morality, and confident of its eventual triumph over secular standards.

Based on a vast array of archival holdings, including the secret archives of the Vatican, this colorful and fascinating story recounts Cardinal William Henry O'Connell's ambitious grasp for power and his arrogant misuse of the trappings of the office. Appointed in 1895 to a minor post in the Catholic church in Rome, Father William O’Connell of Boston built a Vatican power base that made him a bishop, archbishop, and cardinal. His arrogant exploitation of his position drew the wrath of U.S. bishops—who were twice unsuccessful in having him removed from office. Believing that his high position exempted him from the rules of morality, O'Connell was utterly unscrupulous. He discovered multiple ways to turn a profit from his position and by 1923 had amassed a fortune. O’Connell brought further scandal upon his position when he turned a blind eye to the secret marriages of two priests who lived with him, one of them his nephew. When the marriages were discovered, the cardinal brazenly defended his nephew at the expense of the other offender. Had the Cardinal not worn the scarlet that marked him as a prince of the church, he may have gone to the grave a disgraced clergyman. However, his rank, his ability to maintain appearances, and his potent Vatican allies saved him from such a fate. This story serves as a mirror against which to view current affairs in both the Catholic church and the United States.

An annual biographical dictionary, with which is incorporated "Men and women of the time."