John Carroll
Photo: Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons14

John Carroll

First Catholic bishop in the US (1735–1815)

John Carroll (January 8, 1735 – December 3, 1815) was an American Catholic prelate who served as the nation's first Catholic bishop, overseeing the Diocese of Baltimore, then the only diocese in the nascent United States, from 1789 to 1815. He became Archbishop of Baltimore in 1808, up to which point Carroll had also administered the entire U.S. Catholic Church.2

From Wikipedia’s article on John Carroll (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jan 8, 1735, died Dec 3, 1815.1

About

Born to an aristocratic family in the colonial-era Province of Maryland, Carroll spent most of his early years as a priest in Europe, teaching and serving as a chaplain. After returning to Maryland in 1773, he started organizing the Catholic Church in America with a small cadre of priests. The Vatican appointed him to several roles as leader of the American Catholic hierarchy, culminating in his appointment as archbishop.

Carroll founded Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and St. John the Evangelist Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland, the first secular parish in the country.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Carroll, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedColleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège3
  • Date not recordedSt. Mary's Seminary and University3
  • Date not recordedStonyhurst College3

Carroll was born on January 8, 1735, in Upper Marlborough, Maryland, in the colonial-era Province of Maryland, to Daniel Carroll I and Eleanor Darnall Carroll at the noble Carroll family plantation. John Carroll grew up on the plantation.

Carroll's older brother, Daniel Carroll II (1730–1796), was one of five men to sign both the Articles of Confederation (1778) and the US Constitution (1787).

Carroll's cousin, Charles Carroll (1737–1832), was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence (1776). He participated in the 1828 setting of the "first stone" in the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

John Carroll was home-schooled by Eleanor Carroll, then sent to a Catholic school in Bohemia Manor, Maryland. As the Province of Maryland did not allow Catholic education, the school was run secretly by the Jesuit Reverend Thomas Poulton. When Carroll reached age 13, his family sent him and his cousin Charles to the College of St. Omer in the Artois region of France. The school was a popular destination for the education of boys from wealthy Catholic families in Maryland.

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Founding of Georgetown University

Since 1783, Carroll had been striving to build a Catholic institution to train American priests and educate Catholic lay people, both men and women. Construction of Georgetown College started in 1788 in the Village of Georgetown in the newly established District of Columbia. With the ending of the Jesuit suppression, the order was able to administer the new college. Georgetown College opened on November 22, 1791 The Bishop John Carroll statue is located at the university.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Carroll (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: Catholic missionary, bishop, regular cleric, Catholic priest, Catholic bishop.8

  • 1808 to 1815Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore5
  • Since 1805Apostolic administrator5
  • 1789 to 1808Roman Catholic Bishop of Baltimore5
  • 1784 to 1789Prefect of United States of America5
  • Date not recordedFounded Georgetown University4
  • Date not recordedChair, Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore6
  • Date not recordedChair, Apostolic Prefecture of the United States7

Personal life

  • BornJan 8, 1735, Upper Marlboro9
  • DiedDec 3, 1815, Baltimore10 11
  • CitizenshipUnited States12

Religious in the diocese

To train priests for his new diocese, Carroll asked the Fathers of the Company of Saint Sulpice to come from France to Baltimore. The Sulpicians arrived in 1791 and started the nucleus of St. Mary's College and Seminary in Baltimore. Carroll gave his approval for the establishment of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Baltimore. He was not successful, however, in inducing the Carmelites, who had come to Maryland in 1790, to take up the work of education.

In 1796, a group of Augustinian friars from Ireland arrived in Philadelphia. Carroll took the lead in restoring the Jesuit Order in Maryland in 1805, without informing Rome, by using an affiliation with the Russian Jesuits. They had been protected in the Russian Empire from suppression by Catherine the Great. That same year Carroll urged Dominican friars from England to open a priory and college in Kentucky to serve the numerous Catholics who had been migrating there from Maryland. In 1809, the Sulpicians invited Sister Elizabeth Ann Seton to come to Emmitsburg, Maryland, to found a school. Carroll had to contend with a "medley of clerical characters". One of the most notorious was Simon Felix Gallagher of Charleston, an eloquent alcoholic with a large following.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Carroll (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

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