HUDSON, DANIEL ELDRED

Editor; b. Nahant, Mass., Dec. 18, 1849; d. Notre Dame, Ind., Jan. 12, 1934. He was the son of Samuel Henry and Mary (Hawkes) Hudson. He received his early education in the public schools of Nahant and at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass. He entered the novitiate of the Congregation of Holy Cross at Notre Dame, March 7, 1871, and was professed March 19, 1872. He was ordained on June 4, 1875, and appointed editor of the Ave Maria that same year. This octavo weekly magazine, which became an important factor in the propagation of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, had begun publication at Notre Dame in May 1865 under the direction of Rev. Edward F. Sorin and his associates, Mother Angela Gillespie of the Sisters of Holy Cross and her brother, Rev. Neal Gillespie, CSC. Although other priests of the Holy Cross Congregation assisted Hudson, the magazine came to have a special tone that was attributed to him. Little that he wrote in Ave Maria was signed, but he was considered the author of its editorial comments during these years. Hudson did not hesitate to answer journalists who attacked the Church, and he had definite opinions on most of the religious problems of the day. He exerted a directing influence on the careers of Charles Warren Stoddard, Maurice Francis Egan, and Christian Reed (Frances Tiernan) and gave encouragement to many young Catholic writers. He retired in 1928 because of illness.

Bibliography: j. w. cavanaugh, Ave Maria NS 39 (Jan. 27–Feb. 17, 1934) 97–101, 135–140, 169–173, 201–205. j. j. walsh, Catholic World 139 (April 1934) 31–39.

[t. t. mcavoy]