John Carroll
John Carroll was a significant figure in early American Catholicism, known for being the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States. Born into a prominent Maryland family, he faced challenges in his education due to the prohibition of secondary Catholic schooling in his home state, which led him to pursue his studies in Europe. After being ordained as a priest in 1769, Carroll became involved in both teaching and missionary work. He played a crucial role during the American Revolutionary War, participating in a diplomatic mission to Canada aimed at garnering support for the colonies.
Following the war, Carroll was instrumental in shaping the Catholic Church in the United States, advocating for the establishment of an American bishopric. His election as bishop of Baltimore in 1789 marked a pivotal moment in American religious history, and he later became the first archbishop in 1808. Carroll's leadership included organizing the Provincial Councils of Baltimore, which aimed to provide direction for the growing Catholic community. His tenure was marked by efforts to promote unity and tolerance among Christians. Carroll's legacy continues to influence the Catholic Church in America today.
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John Carroll
- Born: January 8, 1735
- Birthplace: Upper Marlboro, Maryland
- Died: December 3, 1815
- Place of death: Baltimore, Maryland
Biography
John Carroll was born the third son of Daniel Carroll and Eleanor Darnall Carroll and began his education at a Jesuit grammar school in Maryland. Due to the fact that secondary Catholic education was illegal in Maryland, John Carroll subsequently moved to Europe, where he continued his education for six years in Flanders and another fourteen years in Liège.
In 1769, at the age of thirty-four, Carroll became an ordained priest. He spent the next four years teaching philosophy and theology. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV dissolved the Society of Jesus, of which Carroll had been a member since 1753. Carroll wrote a vindication of the Society of Jesus, and in 1774 he returned to his native Maryland to work as a missionary.
In 1776, Carroll was called upon by the Continental Congress to accompany Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll (John Carroll’s cousin) on a diplomatic mission to Quebec. The goal of the mission, though ultimately unsuccessful, was to convince the Canadians to join the Revolutionary War on the side of the American colonies.
In 1783, following the end of the war, Carroll and five other priests began a series of meetings to discuss ways to further Catholicism in the fledgling United States. This led to their petitioning Rome to remove U.S. Catholics from the supervision of the vicar apostolic of London. As a result, Carroll was named Superior of the Missions in the United States in 1784 and was given many of the same powers as a bishop.
That same year, an ex-Jesuit minister (and a distant relative of Carroll) named Charles Henry Wharton began to question the patriotism of Catholics. Carroll’s response came in the form of the Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of North America, in which he called for toleration and unity among all Christians in the former colonies.
Nonetheless, various factions of Catholics in the United States continued to pull the Church in opposing directions. Seeing a need for a full-fledged bishop, a group of twenty-five Maryland priests petitioned Rome to name an American bishop. Rome agreed and, in a rare move, allowed the priests to nominate their own bishop—twenty-four of whom voted for Carroll. Thus, in 1789, Pope Pius VI named John Carroll bishop of Baltimore, making him the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.
In 1808, Bishop Carroll was elevated to archbishop, a position that allowed him to oversee suffragan sees at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown, Kentucky. In this capacity, he convened the Provincial Councils of Baltimore in 1810, which served to define and give guidance to the Catholic Church in the United States.
In the fall of 1815, because of poor health, Carroll was unable to accept an invitation to lay the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. He died shortly thereafter.