Diocesan records and episcopal papers

James Wallace, professor, mathematician, author, and a Jesuit priest, was born circa 1783 in Kilkenny, Ireland. He attended Maynooth Seminary and Georgetown College. In 1818, Wallace, along with Reverend Benedict J. Fenwisk, S.J., left Georgetown to serve as pastors of St. Mary of the Annunciation in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1820, Wallace joined the faculty of South Carolina College. He was a professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, and chemistry until 1834. In 1844, Wallace left the diocese and later married. He died in 1851.

John England, the first Catholic bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, was born in 1786 in Cork, Ireland, to Thomas England and Honora Lordan; owners of a tobacco business. England, the oldest of ten children, became an ordained priest in Cork in 1808, and was then appointed chaplain to the North Presentation Convent in Cork. In 1817, England was transferred from Cork to Bandon, a nearby village where he served as the parish priest. In July 1820, Pope Pius VIII established the Diocese of Charleston which was formed from the Archdiocese of Baltimore under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Baltimore. It encompassed 140,000 square miles and consisted of three states; North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; with Charleston, South Carolina, as the see city. England was consecrated as bishop in St. Finbar's church in Cork on September 21, 1820. With his sister, Joanna, and Father Denis Corkery, he travelled to Charleston aboard the ship Thomas Gelston, arriving in December 1820. England remained in Charleston as bishop where he created the first Roman Catholic newspaper in the United States, the United States Catholic Miscellany, with the assistance of his sister, Joanna; issued an official constitution that established the rules by which the diocese would be governed, as well as created other works and writings. John England died in 1842.

Ignatius A. Reynolds was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1798 to John Reynolds and Ann French. He was ordained a priest in 1823 in Baltimore, Maryland. Reynolds was a professor in the seminary in Bardstown, St. Joseph’s College, and in 1827 became the seminary president. He also served as rector of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, pastor of St. Louis Church (site of the present Cathedral) in Louisville, Kentucky, and vicar general of the Diocese of Bardstown. In 1843, Reynolds was appointed bishop of Charleston and was installed in 1844. Bishop Reynolds died in 1855.

Patrick Neison Lynch was born in 1817 in Kilberidogue, Ireland, to Conlaw Peter Lynch and Eleanor MacMahon Neison. In 1819, he and his parents immigrated to the United States, where they settled in Cheraw, South Carolina. Lynch attended the Seminary of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, where he studied under Bishop John England. In 1833, Bishop England sent Lynch, then 17 years old, to Rome, Italy, to study at the Collegium Urbanum de Propaganda Fide. In 1840, Lynch became an ordained priest and returned to Charleston where he was assigned as pastor of St. Mary of the Annunciation. After the death of Bishop Ignatius Reynolds in 1855, the presbytery elected Lynch to serve as the administrator of the diocese. Pope Pius IX did not appoint Lynch as bishop of Charleston until 1857. He was consecrated in 1858. In 1864, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, named Bishop Lynch as special commissioner of the Confederate States of America to the States of the Church. He went to Rome on a diplomatic mission to meet with Pope Pius IX and present himself as the minister of the Confederate States, in hopes of gaining recognition of the confederacy. Pope Pius IX never met with Bishop Lynch in his capacity as special commissioner. The pope did not endorse or support the succession of the Confederate States, and Lynch’s position as a diplomat went no further. After the war, Lynch was in danger of imprisonment and was required to sign an oath of allegiance in exchange for a full pardon. While in Paris, France, he signed the allegiance and received a declaration of pardon. Bishop Lynch died in 1882.

Henry Pinckney Northrop was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Claudian Byrd Northrop and Hannah Eliza Anderson in 1842. In 1853, he attended Georgetown College but was required to withdraw three years later due to illness. Shortly after, Northrop attended Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and graduated in 1860. Later that same year, Northrop entered the seminary at Mount St. Mary’s College. He also attended North American College in Rome, Italy, where he was ordained while studying for the priesthood in 1865. When he returned home to the Diocese of Charleston, Northrop served at St. Joseph Church, missions in North Carolina, the pro-Cathedral, and Sullivan’s Island. In 1881, Northrop was appointed vicar apostolic of North Carolina as well as titular bishop of Rosalia. In 1883, Northrop was made bishop of Charleston. He remains the longest serving bishop of the Diocese of Charleston (32 years). Bishop Northrop died in 1916.

William Thomas Russell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1863 to William and Rose Russell. He attended seminary at St. Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland, the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy, and St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained in 1889. His first assignment was pastor of St. James Church in Hyattsville, Maryland, until 1894, when he was appointed private secretary to Cardinal James Gibbons and curate at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore. In 1908, Russell was named pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and in 1911 he was elevated to the rank of domestic prelate by Pope Pius X. Russell was appointed Charleston’s fifth bishop in 1916 and installed in 1917. Bishop Russell died in Charleston in 1927.

Emmet Michael Walsh was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, to Thomas Walsh and Wilhelmina Jannerman Walsh in 1892. Walsh’s family moved to Savannah, Georgia, in 1906. He attended Chatham Academy in Savannah and then St. Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester, New York. Walsh returned to Savannah for his ordination in 1916. From 1916-1927, Walsh served as assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Atlanta, Georgia; pastor of St. Teresa Catholic Church in Albany, Georgia; pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Savannah; and then returned to Atlanta to serve as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church. In 1927, Walsh was appointed and ordained as the sixth bishop of Charleston. In 1949, Bishop Walsh was appointed coadjutor bishop of Youngstown, Ohio, and titular bishop of Rhaedestus, Turkey. He succeeded as bishop of Youngstown in 1952. Walsh died in Youngstown in 1968.

John Joyce Russell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to John Russell and Mary Joyce Russell in 1897. Russell attended Calvert Hall and Loyola High Schools. He also studied at St. Charles College in Maryland. In 1919, he earned a Master of Arts degree from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, and in 1923 a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. In 1923, Russell’s uncle, William T. Russell, fifth bishop of Charleston, ordained him into the priesthood. Appointed a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Russell served at St. Martin Church from 1923-1937. During that period, he founded the Catholic Evidence Guild, served as director of Catholic Big Brothers, acted as director of the Junior Holy Name society, and served as a tribunal judge for the archdiocese. In 1937, Russell became pastor of St. Ursula Parish and served until 1946. From 1946-1950, Russell served as pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., director of Catholic Charities, and pastor of the Church of the Nativity. In January of 1950, Pope Pius XII appointed Russell seventh bishop of Charleston. He received his episcopal consecration the following March from Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, with Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle and Bishop John Michael McNamara serving as co-consecrators. Bishop John Russell adopted the same coat of arms as his uncle, Bishop William T. Russell. In 1958, Russell became bishop of Richmond and left South Carolina. He retired as bishop of Richmond in 1973. Russell died in 1993 at the age of 95.