Benedict Joseph Fenwick

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

a Roman Catholic bishop, was born at Leonardstown, Maryland, September 3, 1782. He was made bishop of Boston, Massachusetts, November 1, 1825, a diocese which then had only three priests. He enlarged his cathedral, established schools, started a theological seminary, introduced the Sisters of Charity through Ann Alexis in 1832, saw the first synod of Boston assembled in 1842, the erection of a new see of Hartford in 1844, founded the College of the Holy Cross at Worcester, through the Jesuits, the great Catholic university of New England, and died in Boston after an energetic episcopate, August 11, 1846, prudent, learned, and charitable. See De Courcey and Shea, Hist. of the Cath. Church in the U.S. page 509.