Editing Nativist Riots of 1844 (section)

== May Riots in Kensington ==

Violence erupted on May 6, 1844, when a nativist rally in the heavily Irish neighborhood of Kensington was disrupted by rain. When the crowd sought shelter in a nearby market house, Irish residents confronted them, and fighting broke out. Shots were fired, and an eighteen-year-old nativist named George Shiffler was killed—he would be martyred in nativist propaganda as a victim of Catholic aggression. Over the following days, mobs of nativists attacked Irish homes and businesses in Kensington, burning dozens of buildings and driving Irish families from the neighborhood. The St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church and the Sisters of Charity school were destroyed by fire, along with the rectory and a library containing thousands of volumes.<ref name="feldberg"/>

The violence spread through Kensington despite the efforts of local authorities to restore order. The district had its own police force, separate from the city of Philadelphia, and the fragmented system of government that characterized pre-consolidation Philadelphia proved utterly inadequate to handle civil disorder on this scale. Militia companies were called out, but some refused to fire on the mobs, and others were sympathetic to the nativist cause. On May 8, mobs attacked and burned St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church on Fourth Street in the heart of Philadelphia, destroying one of the oldest Catholic churches in America along with its priceless library, which included books donated by Benjamin Franklin. The destruction of St. Augustine's marked the height of the May violence.<ref name="kenneally">{{cite book |last=Kenneally |first=James J. |title=The History of American Catholic Women |year=1990 |publisher=Crossroad |location=New York}}</ref>