Barnard, James, 1733-1803

Minister of Salem, Massachusetts

A prominent English Catholic and friend of Bishop Challoner, Rev. Barnard served as president of the English College in Lisbon, and as vicar-general of the London district.

James Barnard was born in London in 1733 of Protestant parents. After studying at the Blue Coat School of London, he converted to Catholicism and was admitted into the English College in Seville where he was ordained a priest. In 1758 he left Seville for the English College in Lisbon.

He studied theology in Lisbon from 1785 until 1761, when he was sent to the English Mission in London. He continued to labor in the London district until he assumed the presidency of the English College in Lisbon in 1776. In 1782 he resigned the presidency of the Lisbon college and returned to London where he assumed the spiritual charge of the school at Brook Green and also was appointed Vicar-General of the London district. In addition to writing numerous pieces on doctrine, Barnard published a biography on his friend, Bishop Richard Challoner. He died in London on September 12, 1803.