Pioneer Bishops of the District of Columbia

There were no bishops in the District of Columbia prior to 1900.  For more information about the District of Columbia, see my blog of December 10, 2016.

Washington D.C. was created in 1790 from portions of Maryland.  (Originally the District also included what is now Arlington and portions of Alexandria in Virginia.)  The rich history of Catholicism in Maryland carried over to the new nation’s capital.  A large portion of the new District—including the location for the Capitol—was obtained from Daniel Carroll and Notley Young, relatives of Archbishop John Carroll.  Many of Washington’s early local leaders were Catholic, including Robert Brent, the first mayor, William Kilty, the first chief judge for the district court, Captain Thomas Tingey, the first commandant of the Navy Yard, and James Hoben, architect of the White House.

Many of these prominent Catholics were English and they mixed well with the Protestant gentry—many of the prominent Washington families had both Catholic and Protestant branches.  It was in part because of this good will that Washington did not experience the same problems that other cities did during the nativist reaction to increased immigration—especially from Ireland.  Washington had attracted a number of Irish and German immigrants in the decades leading up to the Civil War and a nativist party—the Know Nothings—did gain control of the local government during a portion of the 1850s.  But their time in power was brief.

Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown was the first parish in the District of Columbia—it was established in 1787, three years before the District was established.  St. Patrick’s Church was founded in 1794—the first Catholic church in Washington.  (Washington and Georgetown were separate towns at that time.)  During Washington’s early years, local Catholic leaders hoped that someday Washington would have its own bishop and a location was set aside in 1801—Cathedral Square (now the site of St. Vincent de Paul Church on South Capitol Street)—for a cathedral church.  This was carried further when a new church was dedicated in 1895 for St. Matthew’s parish—a building no doubt meant to be a cathedral for some future bishop.

Nevertheless, despite being the nation’s capital, Washington remained part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore until 1939 when the Archdiocese of Washington was created, originally consisting of only the District of Columbia.  The new Archbishop of Washington was Michael Curley, who was also the Archbishop of Baltimore.  St. Matthew’s became the Cathedral church for the new archdiocese.  Washington did not get its own Archbishop until Curley died in 1947 and Pope Pius XII appointed Patrick O’Boyle to be the first resident archbishop.  At that time, the Archdiocese assumed its present territory of the District of Columbia and five Maryland counties.  The Archdiocese of Washington is one of only four U.S. archdioceses established without first being a diocese.