Purcell, John Baptist

PURCELL, JOHN BAPTIST: Roman Catholic archbishop; b. at Mallow (18 m. n.n.w. of Cork), County Cork, Ireland, Feb. 26, 1800; d. at St. Martens, Brown County, Ohio,. July 4, 1883. He emigrated to America in 1818; studied theology in America and France; was ordained priest at Paris in 1826; returned to America, and was made professor in 1827, and president in 1828, of Mount St. Mary's College, Emmittsburg, Md. In 1833 he was consecrated bishop, and in 1850 archbishop, of Cincinnati. When he came to his see, there were only sixteen Roman Catholic churches in all Ohio, and many of these were mere sheds. In 1876 there were 460 churches, 100 chapels, 3 theological seminaries, 3 colleges, 6 hospitals, and 22 orphan asylums. In 1879, he, with his brother, failed for $4,000,000, whereupon he retired permanently to a monastery He held public debates with Alexander Campbell and with Thomas Vickers, published respectively as A Debate on the Roman Catholic Religion (1837) and The Vickers and Purcell Controversy (New York, 1868). In the Vatican Council he spoke and voted against the infallibility dogma, though he later accepted it.

Bibliography: No biography of this prelate exists. Consult R. Gilmour, Funeral Oration on Archbishop J. B. Purcell, New York, 1883.