- Listenly
- Public Library
- All Authors
- William Hogan
author
William Hogan
d. 1848
A former Catholic priest turned fierce public critic, he became one of the most controversial religious polemicists in 19th-century America. His writing grew out of real church conflicts in Philadelphia and helped fuel the era’s heated anti-Catholic debates.
2 Audiobooks
Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries
by William Hogan
About the author
Born in Ireland and educated at Maynooth College, William Hogan was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest before emigrating to the United States in 1819. He first worked in Albany and then in Philadelphia, where he served at St. Mary's parish and quickly became a popular and divisive figure.
His clash with Bishop Henry Conwell led to suspension and excommunication in the early 1820s, during a major dispute over church authority and lay trustees. Afterward, Hogan reportedly worked in several very different roles, including managing a circus and studying law, before returning to public life as a lecturer and writer.
In the 1840s and 1850s, he became known for strongly anti-Catholic books and essays, including Popery as It Was and as It Is and later Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries. No suitable confirmed portrait image was found on the sources checked, so none is included here.