Leonard Neale

The Most Reverend Leonard Neale, S.J.
Archbishop of Baltimore
File:Leonard Neale portrait.jpg
Archdiocese	Baltimore
Appointed	April 17, 1795 (coadjutor)
Installed	December 3, 1815
Term ended	June 18, 1817
Predecessor	John Carroll
Successor	Ambrose Maréchal
Orders
Ordination	June 5, 1773
Consecration	December 7, 1800 by John Carroll
Personal details
Born	October 15, 1746 Port Tobacco, Province of Maryland, British Empire
Died	June 18, 1817 Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Parents	William Neale & Anne Brooke

Styles of Leonard Neale
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	none

Leonard Neale, S.J., (October 15, 1746 – June 18, 1817) became the first Roman Catholic bishop to be ordained in the United States. He served as the second Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland. He devoted considerable time to the establishment of the Visitation nuns to provide education to the girls of his diocese, and also served as President of Georgetown College.

Early life and ministry

Neale was born near Port Tobacco, then in the British Province of Maryland, on October 15, 1746 to William and Anne (Brooke) Neale. Six of their seven sons became Jesuits. Neale attended Bohemia Manor School near his home in Maryland. At the age of twelve he was sent to the College of Saint-Omer, in northern France, and later continued his studies in Bruges and Liège.

Neale became a member of the Society of Jesus, and after his ordination on June 5, 1777, he taught in colleges and officiated as pastor in different places in Europe. He was teaching in the Jesuit college of Bruges, then in the Austrian Netherlands, when that institution was seized by the Austrian imperial government, and along with the other Jesuits was expelled. He moved to England, where he had charge of a small congregation, but after four years he sailed in 1779 for Demerara, in British Guiana. At length his health was almost ruined by the inclemency of the climate and the severity of his labors. He left there in January 1783, and during the voyage, fell into the hands of British Royal Navy warships, which being at sea were unaware that the Treaty of Paris had ended hostilities between Britain and the American colonies. He arrived in Maryland in April, associating himself with his Jesuit colleagues, among them John Carroll.

In June 1783, Neale attended a meeting of the Roman Catholic clergy of Maryland at Whitemarsh (northeast of Baltimore Town) and took an active part in its deliberations. He was stationed at St. Thomas Manor among his relatives until 1793. He then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and tended to victims of a yellow fever epidemic, even though his own health was in a delicate state. Ten percent of the population died, leaving many orphaned children. Neale established the first Catholic orphanage in the city to care for them. He became pastor of St. Mary's in Philadelphia. Vigilant in his attentions to the sick and dying, on the reappearance of yellow-fever in 1797 and 1798 he resumed his former exertions until he was stricken by the disease. While he was in Philadelphia Bishop Carroll appointed him vicar-general for Pennsylvania and the other northern states.

President of Georgetown

In 1799, Neale was appointed to succeed Louis William Valentine Dubourg, S.S. as the fourth President of Georgetown College in Washington D.C. He acted in the dual capacity of President and tutor for several years. During his tenure, the institution was developed from an academy into a full college in 1801.

In 1799, Neale founded the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, under the direction of the Visitation nuns. Both the school and the convent were still active more than 200 years later.

Carroll had some time previous to this applied to Rome to name Neale as his co-adjutor bishop. Neal was consecrated a bishop by Carroll in 1800 in the old St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral at the northwestern corner of West Saratoga Street and North Charles Street. As Carroll had been ordained bishop in England, this was the first ordination of a Roman Catholic Bishop in the United States. Neale however, remained as the President of Georgetown College until 1806. The Pro-Cathedral, with its attached rectory, school and surrounding cemetery, served as the episcopal seat until the dedication in 1821 of the new New Baltimore Cathedral.

In 1809, his brother, Francis Neale, S.J., later became the President of the Georgetown College, being the sixth to hold the office.

Archbishop of Baltimore

Neale succeeded Carroll as the second Archbishop of Baltimore on December 3, 1815 and served until his death on June 18, 1817. As Archbishop, he presided over his pro-cathedral of St. Peter's. He appointed French priest Joseph Clorivière to serve at St. Mary's Church. This decision was not welcomed by the Irish congregation and resulted in a schism (1815–1819).

His other brother, Charles Neale, S.J., (died 1823) was the leader of the Jesuit Mission in America by the time he died.

See also

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Georgetown Visitation Monastery
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

External links

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore

Academic offices
Preceded by Louis Guillaume Valentin Dubourg, S.S.	President of Georgetown University 1798-1806	Succeeded by Robert Molyneux, S.J.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by John Carroll	Archbishop of Baltimore December 3, 1815 – June 18, 1817	Succeeded by Ambrose Maréchal, S.S.