The Holmes-Sheehan Correspondence: The Letters of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Canon Patrick Augustine Sheehan

This warm and affectionate collection of letters exchanged between Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., American jurist, and Patrick Augustine Sheehan, Irish priest, enhances the reputation of Holmes as one of the great letter writers in American history and illuminates the highly complex and controversial ＂mind and faith＂ of Justice Holmes in new and significant ways. Holmes, the man of science, and Sheehan, the man of God, face each other in these letters, arguing the age-old issue of faith and doubt. Their differences of opinion on man and the cosmos make for a further understanding of Holmes as both a philosopher and a legal scholar. The unique value and the truly important contribution which this collection makes to the world of Holmesian scholarship is to be found in another consideration. Holmes shows himself to be a tender, caring, and in the end lovable friend to Canon Sheehan. By tracing considerations which were basic to Holmes’s total sell the letters suggest important influences in his public life as well as in his private relations. If, in the eye of the biographer, it is the ＂unguarded moment＂ which may most accurately reveal the true character of his subject, the Holmes-Sheehan letters are replete with rare opportunities to appreciate Holmes, and to become acquainted with the erudite and thoughtful Canon Sheehan.

David H. Burton is Professor of History at St. Joseph’s University. He is author of several biographies and books on American intellectual history including Political Ideas of Justice Holmes.