Bishop John England correspondence

Collection

Identifier: A-01-9000

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains photocopied correspondence from John England as bishop of the Diocese of Charleston mostly to Reverend Simon William Gabriel Bruté de Rémur, later bishop of Vincennes, Indiana. Also included is correspondence from John England as Charleston's bishop-elect to the archbishop of Baltimore, Ambrose Maréchal, informing him of his appointment as bishop; correspondence to Archbishop Joseph Signay, of Quebec, Canada; and Doctor Francis Lieber, a professor at South Carolina College, now the University of South Carolina.

Dates

Created: 1820-1839

Creator

England, John, 1786-1842 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Diocese of Charleston makes no representation that it is the owner of any copyright or other literary property in the materials contained in its archives. In providing access to or permitting the reproduction of any such materials, the Diocese of Charleston does not assume any responsibility for determining the nature of any rights, ownership or interest therein; nor for obtaining the appropriate permissions to publish or use; nor for determining the nature of any liabilities (for defamation and invasion of privacy) that may arise from any publication or use. This rests entirely with the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

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.

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