Boston's Annual Pope Night Tradition Mired in Anti-Catholic Prejudice in 18th Century

Boston Broadside printed in 1768. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

In the 18th century, the annual Pope's Day holiday in Boston every November 5 was a chilling demonstration of the deep-seeded anti-Catholic sentiments prevalent in New England in the decades leading up to the Revolutionary War.

One of those bizarre and archaic pastimes that measure a lack of progress in the human condition, Pope's Day was an English celebration marking a failed Catholic plot by Guy Fawkes to blow up the British Parliament in 1605. It was enthusiastically marked in England and in other places where the English gathered, and by the 1740s had become an annual tradition in Boston.

Gangs of working class men from the South End and the North End marched from their respective neighborhoods into the center of Boston, holding Effigies of the Pope and the Devil that had been studiously constructed by townspeople. Upon meeting, the two sides, fueled by rum and the excitement of old grudges, attempted to destroy the other side's effigies. Large scale brawls were common, and occasionally one of the participants died.

The Pope Night even became connected to political events leading up to the Revolutionary War.  Shortly after the Boston Massacre of March 1770, for example, when Captain Preston and the British soldiers were on trial, a Catholic dimension surfaced. The Boston Gazette and other newspapers suggested that many of the accused soldiers were actually Irish Catholics, feeding into an anti-Catholic sentiment stretching back to the Puritan days.   The Providence Gazette even suggested that Pope's Day should move from November 5 to March 5, the day of the Boston Massacre, and that Preston and his men should be added to the effigies to be burned.

It was actually General George Washington who helped set the stage for ending Pope's Day in New England, thereby setting the stage for the eventual acceptance of Catholics in the United States.

"On taking command of the Continental forces besieging Boston in 1775, Washington was appalled at the scurrilous anti-Catholic songs being sung by some of his troops," according to The New York Times. "The general was hoping to win the support of French Catholics in Quebec, which American rebels had invaded. Washington gave strict orders to end the celebrations."

George Washington in Cambridge, MA. Image Courtesy of Library of Congress

A General Order issued on November 5, 1775 by Washington's command staff reads:"…As the Commander in Chief has been apprized of a design form’d, for the observance of that ridiculous and childish Custom of burning the Effigy of the pope—He cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be Officers and Soldiers, in this army so void of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this Juncture; at a Time when we are soliciting, and have really obtain’d, the friendship & alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as Brethren embarked in the same Cause. The defence of the general Liberty of America: At such a juncture, and in such Circumstances, to be insulting their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered, or excused; indeed instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our Brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for every late happy Success over the common Enemy in Canada."

George Washington at Valley Forge. Image Courtesy of Britannica

Later, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during St. Patrick's Day, Washington learned that colonial troops, most likely Germans from Pennsylvania, were kicking around an effigy of the Pope, "causing great indignation among the Irish in the camp," according to historian John Crimmins. Washington himself appeared at the scene and put an end to the situation, commenting in the process, "I too am a lover of St. Patrick's Day."

Learn more about the role of the Irish in the Revolutionary War.