Rev. James H. Cotter, LL.D.
Ceaselessly to and fro flies the deft shuttle that weaves the web of human destiny, and into the vast fabric, enters the accomplishment of all individuality, penetrating both warp and woof and lending either the sheen of usefulness and beauty or the dark and zigzag lines of unintelligible obscurity. To place final valuations is not within the power of human kind but remains the prerogative and function of the One who is above all and over all, but there be those whose gracious and noble personalities, splendid powers and unlimited consecration give an impression that can not fail to be appreciated by all who have aught of cognizance of the true significance of human thought and motive.. To give within the pages of a work of the circumscribed province assigned to the one at hand adequate tribute to the character and services of Doctor Cotter is in the realm of the impossible, but it is imperative that there be mention of the man, the priest, the patriot, the scholar, the lover of humanity whose name initiates this paragraph and who is rector of St. Lawrence Church in the City of Ironton. Not alone has his zeal been fruitful in good works and large results in the high calling to which he has consecrated himself, but he has gained also a national reputation as an orator and author. His intellectual attainments are on a parity with his devotion to the great mother church of Christendom and to the aiding and uplifting of his fellow men; better commendation than this could be given to no man.
Rev. James H. Cotter was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in the year 1857, "amid scenes calculated to inspire poetry and eloquence." He is a son of George and Sarah (Delhanty) Cotter, representatives of stanch old families of the fair Emerald Isle, where both George Cotter and his wife were born in the year 1826, having passed the closing period of their lives at Ironton, Ohio, where they found a home in 1893, and where both died in the year 1896, their gracious evening of life having been solaced by the filial devotion of their son, Doctor Cotter, of this review. The names of their nine children are here entered, in respective order of birth: Fannie, Thomas, Jane, James H., George, Richard, Albert, Sarah, and William.
Doctor Cotter was fifteen years of age at the time of the family immigration from Ireland to America and he acquired his early education in the parochial schools in the State of New York, where also he pursued his higher academic studies in Manhattan College, in New York City, an institution in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1877 and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He later received the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater, and the institution further honored him, in 1906, by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, the same degree having likewise been accorded to him by Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Maryland, in 1908. Concerning this period in his career the following statements have been written: "During his years at Manhattan he was noted for his devotion to literature and for his assiduous cultivation of good style in prose and verse. He completed his course in theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary, and in 1881 was ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic Church, in the diocese of Columbus, Ohio. Before his ordination he taught rhetoric at Mount St. Mary's in the third and fourth collegiate classes."
Father Cotter has held the rectorship of St. Lawrence Church, Ironton, since 1889, and thus this parish has received his ministrations and pastoral supervision during the greater part of the time since holy orders were conferred upon him. Under his administration the church has waxed strong along both spiritual and temporal lines, and his gracious personality has gained him the affection of the entire community, irrespective of sectarian affiliations. Under the zealous supervision of Doctor Cotter there was erected, in 1891, the present fine church of St. Lawrence; the modern and model parish house, in 1904; and the large and finely appointed parish school building, in 1911.
From a previously published sketch of the career of Doctor Cotter are taken, with but slight paraphrase, the following extracts: "Father Cotter is the author of many sermons and lectures, and of 'Shakespeare's Art,' a volume embracing many valuable critical studies in nine of Shakespeare's masterpieces—which he prepared in recreation hours during busy years of pastoral life. He has also been chosen as orator of the day on many historic occasions. He succeeded the late lamented Father Cronin as the principal editorial writer on the Catholic Union and Times, of Buffalo, New York, a position which he still retains. A collection of his editorials on papal questions, gorgeously bound in gold and crushed levant, was made by the Catholic Publication Society, of Buffalo, and presented to the Holy Father, Pius X, in his jubilee year, 1908. As a lecturer Doctor Cotter's reputation is national. His lectures on 'Liberty,' 'Julius Caesar,' 'The Merchant of Venice,' and 'Macbeth' are among the classics of platform eloquence. The Boston Journal of Education says of his work entitled 'Shakespeare's Art:' 'One Cotter, with his zealous vision of the son of Stratford, does more than all the defenders of the play to steady the faith of the world in the personality of Shakespeare.' "
A really wonderful work is that which has been more recently written and published by Doctor Cotter, and which is entitled "Lances Hurled at the Sun." The preface to this volume was written by Rt. Rev. Charles H. Colton, D. D., Bishop of Buffalo, New York, and was issued by the Catholic Union and Times Press, of Buffalo. From, many commendatory statements it is appropriate that in this volume be perpetuated the following words by Most Rev. John Ireland, D. D.: "I thank you very cordially for the gift of your volume, 'Lances Hurled at the Sun,' and at the same time I take the liberty to thank you for the talent and industry with which you have, as this volume shows, defended before the American public the truths of Holy Religion. You are a model to the priesthood of America, in the reading of events and occurrences bearing one way or another upon the life and teachings of the Church, in the readiness to take a lance in hand to vindicate her honor; in the skill with which you ply the arms of defense and offense. May God bless and prosper your pen."
From a critical review appearing in the Catholic .Standard and Times, Philadelphia, are taken the following excerpts: " 'Lances Hurled at the Sun,' after a simile of Tennyson's in 'Locksley Hall,' is a simile the more remarkable from the fact that the barbarians who today hurl their weapons at the God of Heaven are not children, but mature men and women who think themselves qualified to out-reason religion and who laugh at the revelations of Christ and the Apostles as unfit food for an age that demands 'strong meat for men.' Father Cotter's themes are the monstrosity of many of the theories put forward by the crowd of 'know-it-all' university professors and agnostic quacks, the pretentions of the 'modernists' and other lance-hurlers. He is the possessor of a keen method of logic and Celtic sense of delicate humor that in season flavors his essays with Attic salt. Many a quaint conceit and apt illustration brighten the stream of his exposition as it ripples, indignantly or merrily, as the subject demands, along its course."
Doctor Cotter has traveled extensively in Europe and the United States and few men have been capable of learning and imparting more valuable lessons from experiences with men and affairs. The Doctor presided at the third annual meeting of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada, and was with Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, and Judge Minchan, of Seattle, Washington, one of the mass-meeting orators at the Federation of the Catholic Societies of the United States, held in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1913. He was also one of those who delivered addresses at the second Missionary Congress, held in the City of Boston, in 1913.
With the nations of Europe plunged deep in the sanguinary vortex of warfare, there is signal interest attaching to an editorial written by Doctor Cotter for the Catholic Union and Times, under the title of "Faith and Country." This article breathes of the loftiest spirit of patriotism and deep humanitarianism and was inspired by the obsequies incidental to the funeral of the sailors killed in the recent conflict between the United States and Mexican forces at Vera Cruz, Mexico. The editorial appeared in May, 1914, and from it brief quotation may consistently be made in conclusion of this sketch: "A classic writer of antiquity said, 'It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country.' Christianity has approved the pronouncement but supernaturalized the motive. With the Christian, love of country goes farther than the feeling which clings to old associations and to our feliows, kindred in manners and affiliations; he is a patriot because it is a duty of faith. St. Thomas has given all the obligations of a good Catholic in one concise passage: 'My God first, country second, and self last.' * * * There is much jingo about love of country, but the man who writes his devotion in the red ink of his heart, he it is who, in the words of President Wilson, gives 'patriotic service'—something that can not be underrated in fact nor discounted in purpose. * * * Truth and Liberty have ever been and will forever be linked. 'The truth shall make you free' is good ethics as well as correct scripture. The Catholic who loves the truth must perforce love liberty, and love America, its 'holy ground.' Truth unchains high aspirations, while falsehood dwarfs and stifles them. Truth is light, and in light liberty always happily disports herself. * * * May the same God who founded the Church set securely and forever on lasting foundations the country of our love—America! big, generous America, that the Omnipotent hid for centuries behind His hand from the gaze of Europe, so that afterward it might be the worthy home and safe retreat of liberty violated in Europe."
From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916