Patrick Kelly (bishop of Waterford and Lismore)

Patrick Kelly (16 April 1779 – 8 October 1829) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Richmond (1820–1822) and Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (1822–1829).


Patrick Kelly
Bishop of Waterford and Lismore
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
DioceseWaterford and Lismore
In office9 February 18228 October 1829
PredecessorRobert Walsh
SuccessorWilliam Abraham
Orders
Ordination18 July 1802
Consecration24 August 1820
Personal details
Born(1779-04-16)16 April 1779
Kilkenny, Ireland
Died8 October 1829(1829-10-08) (aged 50)
Waterford, Ireland
NationalityIrish
DenominationRoman Catholic
Previous postBishop of Richmond (1820-1822)
Alma materIrish College at Lisbon
Signature

Biography

Kelly was born at n in Maudlin Street, in Kilkenny, to Matthew and Anastatia Nowlan Kelly. He was sent to a classical school at Lisdowney in 1793, and to the Old Academy in 1795. In 1797, he entered the St. Patrick's College in Lisbon.[1] He was ordained to the priesthood on 18 July 1802.[2] For the next two years he served as Professor of Philosophy at the College.

Career

Kelly returned home 15 August 1804, and, being in delicate health, remained with his parents during the following twelve months. He then served as a curate in Inistioge. In the early part of 1808 he was assigned to The Rower, a small village in County Kilkenny. He was Professor of Philosophy in the Maudlin Street College from September, 1811 to Summer 1814, and then at St Kieran's College at Birchfield until summer 1815. As well as teaching lay students, St Kieran's was both a minor and major seminary. On the appointment of his Uncle, Dean Nowlan, to the pastoral charge of Windgap and Dunnamaggan, in August, 1815, he succeeded him as Professor of Theology, and he became President of the College on the death of Father Quinlan in 10 November 1816.[3] He served as both the President of the college and the Chair of the Theology Department until the summer of 1820.

Bishop

On 19 July 1820, Kelly was appointed the first Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, in the United States.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on the following 24 August from Archbishop John Thomas Troy, O.P., with Archbishop Daniel Murray and Bishop Kyran Marum serving as co-consecrators.[4]

He sailed from Dublin on 9 October, and arrived in New York, after sixty days, on 24 December. With a stop to visit Henry Conwell, Bishop of Philadelphia, Kelly proceeded to Baltimore, where he received a somewhat cool reception from the Metropolitan bishop Ambrose Maréchal.[2] "He did not receive me over kindly," he wrote his brother, "and tried to persuade me it would be dangerous to take possession of my See; but his arguments did not satisfy me, and I arrived Norfolk on 19th January."[5]

Kelly took up residence at Norfolk, where there was a greater number of Catholics than at the episcopal see in Richmond, in January 1821.[6]

During his brief two-year-long tenure, Kelly opened the first Catholic school in the diocese and engaged in missionary efforts.[7] However, due to jurisdictional differences with Maréchal, the Holy See decided to transfer him and Kelly was appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in his native Ireland on 9 February 1822,[4] and later died there at age 50 of inflammation of the lungs. He is buried in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, Waterford.

References

  1. O'Donnell, John Hugh. "Kelly, Patrick". The Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, 1790-1922.
  2. History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossary, vol.1, p. 272
  3. Shea, John Gilmary. "Rt. Rev. PATRICK KELLY, FIRST BISHOP, 1820-1822". History of the Catholic Church in the United States.
  4. "Bishop Patrick Kelly". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  5. Magennis, Michael I. J., "Bishop Patrick Kelly of Richmond, Va.", The American Catholic Historical Researches, New Series, Vol. 6, No. 4 (October,1910), pp. 347-349 American Catholic Historical Society This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. "Diocese of Richmond". Catholic Encyclopedia.
  7. Clarke, Richard Henry. "Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States: Right Rev. Patrick Kelly, D.D.".
Catholic Church titles
New title Bishop of Richmond
18201822
Succeeded by
Richard Vincent Whelan
Preceded by
Robert Walsh
Bishop of Waterford and Lismore
18221829
Succeeded by
William Abraham
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