England, John, 1786-1842

John England (September 23, 1786, in Cork, Ireland – April 11, 1842, in Charleston, South Carolina) was an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, which then covered three Southern States.

England previously served as a priest in Cork where he was active in the movement for Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom. As bishop in Charleston, he ministered to and provided education for many free and enslaved African-Americans ...

First Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A.; b. 23 September, 1786, in Cork, Ireland; d. at Charleston, 11 April, 1842. He was educated in Cork until his fifteenth year, was then taught privately for two years, and entered Carlow College, 31 August, 1803. In his nineteenth year he began to deliver catechetical instructions in the parish chapel and zealously instructed the soldiers in garrison at Cork. He also established a female reformatory together with male and female poor schools. Out of these schools grew the Presentation Convent. He was ordained priest in Cork, 10 October, 1809, and was appointed lecturer at the cathedral. Wherever he preached people thronged to hear him. Pending the opening of the Magdalen Asylum he maintained and ministered to many applicants. In the same year he published the "Religious Repertory", established a circulating library in the parish of St. Mary, Shandon, and attended the city jail. In the elections of 1812 he fearlessly exerted his influence, maintaining that, "in vindicating the political rights of his countrymen, he was but asserting their liberty of conscience". In the same year he was appointed president of the new diocesan College of St. Mary, where he taught theology. In 1814 he vigorously and successfully assailed with tongue and pen the insidious Veto measure which threatened disaster to the Church in Ireland. Next to O'Connell's his influence was the greatest in the agitation which culminated in Catholic Emancipation ...