The Irish standard., 1915-12-04


n-Catholic brethren would be to
study the influences contributing to-
ward drawing into the communion of !
the Catholic Church in this country
since the year 1920, over 500 Protest
ant ministers, besides 400 Protestant
laymen who have become priests, and
the dozen or so men who have adorn- |
ed the American Hierarchy.
We speak below of the converts
who have become Bishops in the
American Church.
The Most Rev. James Whitfield,
fourth Archbishop of Baltimore, was
born in England in 1910, and on the
conversion of his mother to the
Church while still a boy, he was
brought up Catholic. He received
minor orders at the hands of Cardinal
Fesch, Napoleon's uncle, and was or
dained in Lyons, France, in 1903, and
came to Baltimore where, in 1923, he
was consecrated Archbishop of Balti-
more, dying in 1884.
The Most Rev. Samuel Eccleston,
was born of Episcopalian parents near
Chestertown, Md, on June ~, 1901.
While still a young man he entered
the Church and was ordained priest
in 1925. In September, 1884, he was
consecrated Coadjutor-Bishop to Arch
bishop Marechal and in October of the
same year succeeded him as Arch
bishop of Baltimore. His Grace died
at the Visitation Convent, George
town, D. c., in 1851.
The Most Rev. James Roosevelt
Bayley, near relative of eX-President
Roosevelt, first Bishop Of Newark,
eighth Archbishop of Baltimore and
Papal Delegate, was another early con-
| vert to reach exalted place in the
American Hierarchy.
Born August 90, 1874, at Rye, a lit
| tie village near New York, the son
of DR.. Guy Carleton and Grace Roose-
welt Bayley he was sent to Trinity
College, Hartford, from which he
graduated in 1885. He then decided
to follow his fathers vocation of ply
sician, but early gave up the idea to
study for the ministry of the Protest
ant Episcopal church. After his ordin-
alton he was rector of a church in
Harlem, N. Y. but in 1841 he resigned
his charge and went to Europe, and
was received into the church at Gesu,
Rome, on April %, 1912, receiving holy
communion from the hands of Car
dinal Fransoni.
| Having entered the seminary of Ste.
Sulpice, Paris, he finished his studies
and returned to America, receiving
ordination on March 2, 1874, in old
St. Peters Church, New York, at the
| hands of Bishop Hughes. For two
years thereafter Father Bayley was a
professor at St. Johns College, Ford
ham. He was later recalled to New
York to become secretary to Bishop
Hughes (whose life he later wrote)
besides doing pastoral work. On
October 80, 1858, Father Bayley was
consecrated first Bishop of Newark
by Archbishop Bedini, Nuncio to the
United States One of the first works
performed by him as Bishop was the
founding of Seton Hall College and
Theological seminary, which he named
after his sanity aunt, Mother Eliza
Ann Bayley Seton, founder of the
American branch of the Sisters OF
Charity, and herself an illustrious con
vert. Bishop Bayley attended the
Vatican Council. Shortly after his
return from Rome he was elevated tc
the Archbishopric of Baltimore and
received the Pallium at the hands Of
Bishop Wood (himself convert) Of
Philadelphia.
Archbishop Wood was born in Phil
adelphia in 1873 and died in the same
city in 1885, At the time of his con
version in 1885, Mr.. Wood was cashier
of the Franklin Bank, Cincinnati. He
was sent by Bishop Purcell to Rome
and was there ordained priest in 1874
In 1857 he was consecrated Coadjutol
to the holy Bishop Neumann, of Phila
delphia, whom he succeeded in 1860
He attended the Vatican Council and
founded the diocesan seminary of St
Charles Borromeo at Overlook. In
1875 the diocese having been raised
to an archbishopric Bishop Wood be
came it's first Metropolitan.
Bishop William Tyler, first Bishop
of Hartford, was member of re
markable family, all of whom became
Catholics in the nearly years of the
last century. His uncle, Rev. Daniel
Barber, was convert clergyman. who
with his wife, his son, Virgil, also a
clergyman, entered the Church in 1916
Virgil Barber became a Jesuit, as did
his son, Samuel; his wife a Vista
ton Nun, his four daughters nuns
Bishop Tyler's mother was daugh
ter of Rev. Daniel Barber She also
with her husband, entered the Church
and gave to religion her son and three
daughters.
Bishop Tyler was born in 1906 at
Derby, VT. and at the age Of sixteen