Culture

A Prohibition-era application to procure wine for sacramental purposes submitted by Rt. Rev. John B. Peterson of St. Ann Church in Hull. The application was approved and signed by the chancellor, then-Father Francis J. Spellman. Pilot photo/courtesy Archdiocesan Archives

From the Archdiocesan Archives

Cardinal O'Connell on Prohibition

Friday, February 27, 2026Culture

Almost 100 years ago, on Feb. 13, 1926, The Pilot published its weekly issue with the headline "Cardinal Condemns Principle of Universal Compulsory Prohibition." The accompanying article continues by summarizing an interview with Cardinal William H. O'Connell regarding "the true Catholic standpoint" on the issue of universal compulsory prohibition of alcohol use. Feeling that the position of the Church had been misrepresented, Cardinal O'Connell took this opportunity to set the record straight. Drawing from a contemporary article, "Catholics and the Prohibitionists," published in The London Tablet on Jan. 22, 1926, the cardinal espouses Catholic principles to state his case: "'Abusus non tollit usum' (The abuse of a thing does not destroy its use)."
Acknowledging drunkenness as an "ugly vice," Cardinal O'Connell posits that "ale, wine, and their like are not in themselves evil." Of their many uses, perhaps most notable in Church significance is "the supreme honor paid to wine along with bread as the matter of the Holy Eucharist," the sacrament at the core of Catholic faith. The matter and form of Catholic sacraments is of the utmost importance, and the matter of the Eucharist is bread and wine -- no substitutions.

Prohibition began in earnest with the ratification of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes" beginning in 1920. In short, alcohol was not allowed to be produced, sold, or transported in the United States.
Alcohol consumption has a complicated history in the United States. It was a common beverage in colonial New England, but drunkenness was seen as an unacceptable instance of personal misjudgment. The temperance movement emerged in the early 19th century, promoting moderation or abstinence of alcohol use through education and legislation. Prohibition of alcohol gained traction with support from Protestant preachers, and some states enacted laws to this end after the Civil War. It was now one of the most significant social and political forces in the United States.
But alcohol never fully disappeared from American society. In fact, saloons and bars were prolific at the turn of the 20th century as industrialization surged, but they also faced opposition from activist groups like the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Support or opposition of Prohibition was influenced by religious affiliation, and many evangelical Protestant denominations viewed drinking itself as a personal sin. The Catholic Church, as "the oldest and largest ethical society in the world," per Cardinal O'Connell in his 1926 Pilot interview, was a sought-after collaborator for Christian moral reformers. "Their theologians brand us as traitors to the gospel, but on the public platforms our active partnership is acclaimed with delight," he proclaims, stating that the Church does not need persuasion to fight against intemperance. Cardinal O'Connell goes on to emphasize that "we will work with our separated brethren as temperance men," but not for the cause of compulsory universal prohibition, which is "flatly opposed to Holy Scripture and the Catholic tradition."
Indeed, temperance did become a popular cause among the faithful beginning in the 19th century. Father Theobald Mathew was instrumental in promoting temperance in his home nation of Ireland as well as the United States. Parish-level temperance societies banded together at the state and eventually national levels, resulting in the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America. Father Mathew's influence echoed through the decades long after his death in 1856. As late as 1940, the Boston Total Catholic Abstinence Union comprised parish societies in Cambridge, Boston, Dorchester, Everett, Malden, Rockland, Brookline, and Lynn. Other active temperance societies emerged in Salem, Billerica, Beverly, and Peabody.
The Volstead Act, which implemented the 18th Amendment, made provisions for religious use of wine for sacraments and other rites. During National Prohibition, parishes and churches had to apply for wine to use in sacraments and other religious rites.
Regarding Prohibition addressing a moral issue, Cardinal O'Connell muses, "the real moral issue is the eternal issue of liberty upon which prohibition stamps as though it were a reptile to be destroyed." Indeed, many Catholics saw Prohibition legislation as an overstepping of government influence and denounced the idea that government should define morality. Cardinal O'Connell condemns the Prohibitionists' "bad habit of misrepresentation" of Catholic cooperation, citing an instance where American prohibitionists conspired to entrap the pope in supporting the law of Prohibition. Protestants and Catholics alike were indignant at this attempted use of foreign influence to interfere with domestic issues.
Cardinal O'Connell would have to wait a few more years for a tangible chance on this subject. The 21st Amendment, ratified in 1933, brought about the repeal of the 18th Amendment, effectively ending national prohibition. Cardinal O'Connell concludes the 1926 Pilot article by quoting a homily of St. John Chrysostom discussing the use and abuse of alcohol: "Do not find fault with the wine but with the intemperance ... God honored you with the gift, do not dishonor yourself with the excess of the gift."
The resources referenced in this article are housed at the Archdiocese of Boston Archives. To learn more about our collections, visit us online at bostoncatholic.org/archives.

REBECCA MAITLAND IS AN ARCHIVIST OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON.