Date

4-7-2026

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)

Chair

John Devanny

Keywords

chaplain, chaplains, Catholic chaplain, Catholic chaplains, Catholic priests, priests, Catholic, Catholics, Catholicism, anti-Catholic, anti-Catholicism, anti-Catholic movement, military chaplains, military chaplain, American army chaplain, American army chaplains, army chaplain, army chaplain, Mexican-American War, Mexico, America, Mexican, Mexicans, Americans, Jesuit, Jesuits, the Society of Jesus, society, Jesus, God, president, James K. Polk, presidency, the Congregation of the Mission, Lazarist, Lazarists, Vincentian, Vincentians, Polk, mission, missionary, missionaries, Texas, Texan, Christianity, Christian, Christ

Disciplines

History | History of Christianity

Abstract

The historical community has neglected to deeply analyze the American-Catholic military chaplaincy in the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848. With exceptions, most historians, who have discussed this chaplaincy, have run the spectrum of dedicating an entire chapter to a few sentences on it. “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” offers a first, in-depth monograph of this chaplaincy. “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” argues that the political mission from President James K. Polk to the chaplaincy, which was to help reconcile Americans and Mexicans, did not truly suffer the failure or the mediocrity that certain historians have portrayed it to be. Instead of analyzing the chaplaincy’s rate of success or failure from a wide historical vision, “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” zooms in at the nuances that demonstrate the chaplains’ political mission as more of an overall success within the limitations placed upon them. “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” examines this more acutely by demonstrating the individual ministries of the chaplains and comparing and contrasting them based upon those similarities and/or differences. In connection to this, “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” examines in greater detail, than previous historians, the effort to obtain a third chaplain for the chaplaincy and how it impacted it. “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” also presents in detail Polk’s tolerance of Catholicism, its connection to the establishment of the chaplaincy, and, more importantly, how it opened the door for an outreach to non-Catholics in the army which in turn saw the chaplaincy explicitly seeking to bring non-Catholics into Catholicism.

Download

Share

COinS