Clergyman; born in
Upper Marlboro, Md., Jan. 8, 1735; was educated at St. Omer's,
Liege, and
Bruges; ordained a priest in 1769, and entered the order of Jesuits soon afterwards.
He travelled through
Europe with young Lord Staunton in 1770 as private tutor, and in 1773 became a professor in the college at
Bruges.
In 1775 he returned to
Maryland, and the next year, by desire of Congress, he accompanied a committee of that body on a mission to
Canada.
That committee was composed of
Dr. Franklin,
Charles Carroll of
Carrollton, and
Samuel Chase.
He was appointed the papal vicargeneral for the
United States in 1786, and made
Baltimore his fixed residence.
In 1790 he was consecrated the first
Roman Catholic bishop in the
United States.
He founded St. Mary's College in 1791, and in 1804 obtained a charter for Baltimore College.
Liberal in his views, he maintained the friendship of all Protestant sects.
A few years before his death, in
Georgetown, D. C., Dec. 3, 1815, he was made archbishop.