Unlike in 2013, when Cardinal Seán O’Malley was one of the cardinal-electors for the next pope, there will be no Boston man voting at this papal conclave.

While it’s likely that Archbishop Richard Henning will be elevated to the position of cardinal eventually, as is customary for an archbishop of a major city like Boston, this isn’t an immediately given honor.

O’Malley was in this situation during the papal election of 2005. The man chosen, Benedict XVI, would make O’Malley a cardinal in 2006. (There are two cardinals who spent time in the Boston area during their studies: Robert McElroy of Washington, DC, and Stephen Chow of Hong Kong; both attended Harvard).

That’s a different story from the papal conclaves of 1914 and 1922. Cardinal William O’Connell of Boston was supposed to have been one of the electors. The problem was that he was unable to get there in time: the only way to Europe was by boat. There were very few non-European cardinals: three in 1914, and four in 1922. While some cardinals in 1922 suggested waiting for at least one American, the Church ultimately proceeded without them.

Growing the faith at home

Did this matter? Maybe. One of the candidates in 1922 was Rafael Merry del Val, one of the highly conservative zelanti who were frustrated with what they perceived as excessive modernism within the church. O’Connell was also a conservative, and he owed his career to Merry del Val. David Kertzer argues in his book, The Pope and Mussolini, that if O’Connell had been able to reach Rome in time, he may have been able to change the course of the election.

Instead, Merry del Val remained in his position as secretary of the Holy Office (formerly known as the Inquisition) and tried to use his power there to force the church into a conservative direction, including by complaining to Wlodimir Ledóchowski, the Superior General of the Jesuits, that Jesuit colleges in the United States were too liberal.

O’Connell missed out on influencing that conclave (although he did make it just in time in 1939). But he did have immense power as Archbishop of Boston, including playing a huge role in shaping Catholicism in Newton. He oversaw large building projects throughout the Boston area, and he sought to transform the archdiocese from a haphazard mix of inwardly focused institutions centered on poor immigrants to a powerful, well-organized diocese that had a large voice in shaping Boston’s intellectual and moral trajectory.

Four new churches in Newton opened while he was bishop: St. John the Evangelist/St. Jean & Evangeliste in Nonantum in 1911, Corpus Christi in Auburndale in 1922, St. Ignatius of Loyola in Chestnut Hill in 1926, and St. Philip Neri in Waban in 1934. St. Jean’s was a French-speaking parish for the legions of French Canadian millworkers in Nonantum, who had been asking for their own parish since 1894. The other three were all English-speaking, adding to Newton’s four pre-existing English language churches. Newton’s oldest parish, St. Mary’s, was also rebuilt during O’Connell’s tenure, from a wood-frame church to the brick building that is today Mary Immaculate of Lourdes.

One problem at this time was that the Catholic church in the Boston area had numerous institutions designed to serve the poor, but there was no real oversight, and many were poorly run by people with noble ideals but not much management knowledge. One of these was the Working Boys’ Home, which had opened in Boston in 1883 and moved to Newton in 1896.

Moving to Newton had led them to be in large amounts of debt. O’Connell took over the board of directors, and invited the Xaverian Brothers to run it, which they would do until 1961.

“The living conditions and training of the boys substantially improved,” the History of the Archdiocese of Boston reports.

One very notable thing that occurred during his episcopate was Boston College’s move from the South End to Newton. In 1907, Boston College was extremely small: it had only 125 students. (The high school, with which it shared a building, had 360). This was a time when Catholic higher education was coming of age and moving from a sole focus on undergraduate liberal arts to a broader path, and Boston College needed more space. In that year, Thomas Gasson became president. O’Connell, an 1881 graduate himself, suggested moving to Chestnut Hill.

“He supported the move to Chestnut Hill in 1913 and was a consistent benefactor of the school. In one of many gifts to the school, he bought the former Liggett Estate on Hammond Street, now our “upper campus.” and gave it to the college; what is now known as Connell House was named in his honor in recognition of the gift,” said James O’Toole, University Historian of Boston College. The Jesuits appreciated his support, and gave him the rare opportunity to celebrate his niece’s wedding in St. Mary’s Chapel in 1926.

O’Connell needed Boston College as well. The Archdiocese of Boston had no undergraduate college for its seminarians: instead, they would spend two years at Boston College before transferring to St. John’s Seminary, which is on Lake Street in Brighton across from the main Boston College campus.

Today, the seminary is the last diocesan building in Brighton. The diocese sold the rest of its buildings to Boston College in the early 2000s, including the cardinal’s former residence, which is now the McMullen Museum of Art. O’Connell was the one who had the house built.

Previously, the cardinal had lived on Bay State Road in Boston, near the Boston University campus. At this time, Boston University wanted to expand and build more large academic buildings on that street. In a rare moment of ecumenical cooperation, O’Connell and one of his wealthy Protestant neighbors teamed up to fight BU. When they lost, O’Connell angrily moved to Brighton.

O’Connell helped other schools move as well, like the Religious of the Sacred Heart, whose leaders wanted to be somewhere less crowded than Commonwealth Avenue. With O’Connell’s help, they were able to relocate to Centre Street in Newton, where they would found Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. (Mount Alvernia Academy also opened while he was bishop).

He purchased the Country Day School in Newton on Nonantum Hill to found St. Sebastian’s School, which would remain in Newton until 1982. He also purchased an estate in Newton at 764 Centre St. to give to the Catholic Guild for All the Blind (today known as the Carroll Center) to establish a home for elderly blind and deaf-blind women.

Cardinal O’Connell played a huge role in shaping the trajectory of the Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Boston, including in Newton, thanks to his ambitious expansion projects and desire for standardization. His expansion may have at times been too ambitious.

Paula Kane suggests in Separatism and Subculture: Boston Catholicism, 1900-1920, that O’Connell overbuilt, and the reason that there were so many parish closures in the early 2000s was in part because there were too many parishes to begin with. Nonetheless, his influence, both in parishes and education, continues to be felt today.