Richard Cushing - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Cushing was born in the South Boston, Massachusetts, on August 24, 1895. The third of five children, he was the son of Patrick and Mary (née Dahill) Cushing. His parents were both Irish immigrants; his father was originally from Glanworth, County Cork, and his mother from Touraneena, County Waterford. His father, who came to the United States in 1880, worked as a blacksmith and earned $18 per week in the trolley repair pits of the Boston Elevated Railway.

Cushing received his early education at Perry Public Grammar School in the City Point section of South Boston, since there was then no parochial school for boys in Gate of Heaven Parish. To pay for his education, he worked with his father on the Boston Elevated. He also worked at the parish church, serving as a janitor and managing the parish-sponsored bowling alley and pool room. After graduating from the Perry School in 1909, he enrolled at South Boston High School. However, Cushing dropped out of high school in his freshman year because of his compulsive truancy. He subsequently entered Boston College High School, a Jesuit college preparatory school. His tuition there was paid by his cousin, who was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York. His father later forced him to discontinue his work at the church, which was having a negative impact on his academic work. He graduated from high school in 1913, receiving honors for his work in Latin and Greek. He was also selected to speak at the graduation ceremony.

Cushing was torn for a time between religion and politics. He originally wanted to be a politician, even earning money by speaking for politicians from the back of wagons. One apocryphal story claimed that once when Cushing was campaigning from a wagon on a South Boston street corner for a candidate for the state legislature, his parish priest pulled him aside and told him, "Make up your mind; either you're going to be a priest or a politician!" Cushing, however, denied this incident ever happened. He twice considered joining the Jesuits, but came to the conclusion he "was cut out more for the active life and not the teaching apostolate."

He entered Boston College in 1913, becoming a member of the first freshman class following the college's move to Chestnut Hill. At Boston College, he was active in the Marquette Debating Society and elected vice-president of his sophomore class. Following the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, Cushing enlisted in the United States Army but was medically discharged for his asthma after a few weeks. After attending Boston College for two years, he began his studies for the priesthood at St. John's Seminary in Brighton in September 1915. He was assigned to continue his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, but the escalation of U-boat activity prevented him from sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.