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Joseph Francis Hanselman (October 28, 1856 – January 16, 1923) was an American Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus. He served as the president of the College of the Holy Cross and rector of Woodstock College. He also was the superior of the Maryland-New York Province of the Jesuits and as the American assistant to the Jesuit Superior General in Rome.

Biography

Joseph Francis Hanselman was born in the Williamsburg neighborhood of the city of Brooklyn, New York (then independent of New York City), on October 28, 1856. He was born to Margaret and Henry Hanselman and had eight siblings. Of his six brothers, five became priests; both of his sisters became nuns. His brothers were James, John Thomas, George, Michael, and his sisters assumed the religious names of Vincent and Thomasina.

He attended Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania before completing his education at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City, where he graduated in 1877. Following his secular education, Hanselman entered the Grand Séminaire de Montréal. However, soon thereafter, he instead decided to enter the Jesuit Order at West Park, New York in 1878. After some time teaching at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, he completed his formation Woodstock College and was ordained a priest in 1892.

Hanselman was made the dean of studies and discipline at the College of the Holy Cross in 1893, where he remained until being appointed the president of the college in 1901. As president, he was responsible for overseeing the construction of Alumni Hall.

He became the provincial superior of the Maryland-New York Province of the Society of Jesus on March 25, 1906, succeeding Thomas J. Gannon. He remained in this position until becoming the rector of Woodstock College in 1912; he was succeeded as provincial by Anthony Maas. In 1918, Hanselman was elevated to the position of American assistant-general to the Jesuit Superior General. He was the second person to hold this office. Unlike his predecessor, Gannon, Hanselman initially remained in the United States while holding the position, rather than move to Rome, due to the fighting of World War I. He held this post until his death on January 16, 1923. He was succeeded as the American assistant by Anthony Maas, S.J.

References

Citations

1. Herringshaw, Thomas William, ed. (1914). American Blue-Book of Biography: Prominent Americans of 1914. Chicago: American Publishers Association. p. 569. OCLC 38664945. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018 – via Google Books.
2. Spellen, Suzanne (September 3, 2015). "Walkabout: "The Great Mistake" — How Brooklyn Lost Its Independence, Part 2". Brownstoner. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
3. ^ "Recent Deaths". The Sacred Heart Review. 33 (14): 210. April 1, 1905. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018 – via Boston College Libraries.
4. ^ "Rev. Joseph Hanselman, S.J." College of the Holy Cross. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
5. ^ Devitt 1933, p. 301
6. ^ "Fr. Hanselman Head of American Jesuits". Los Angeles Evening Herald. Vol. XLIII, no. 258. August 29, 1918. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
7. Bender, Arthur C. A Brief History of the New York Province (PDF). p. 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 27, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2018.

Sources

• Devitt, Edward I. (October 1, 1933). "History of the Maryland-New York Province: IX, The Province in the Year 1833" (PDF). Woodstock Letters. LXII (3): 309–348. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 10, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020 – via Jesuit Archives.

• Biography
• Catholicism
• Maryland
• United States
• New York City

• 1856 births
• 1923 deaths
• People from Williamsburg, Brooklyn
• Religious leaders from Brooklyn
• Presidents of the College of the Holy Cross
• Rectors of Woodstock College
• Woodstock College alumni
• Saint Vincent College alumni
• Xavier High School (New York City) alumni
• Grand Séminaire de Montréal alumni
• 19th-century American Jesuits
• 20th-century American Jesuits
• Provincial superiors of the Jesuit Maryland Province