Clement Smyth

Timothy Clement Smyth (February 24, 1810 – September 22, 1865) was an Irish born 19th century bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Dubuque in Iowa following the death of Bishop Mathias Loras in 1858. He previously served as coadjutor bishop of Dubuque from 1857 to 1858. Smyth was a member of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists),

Biography

Early life Timothy Smyth was born on February 24, 1810, in Finlea, County Clare, in Ireland to Cornelius Smyth and Mary Maloney. Timothy attended public schools in Finlea, then studied the classics at a school in Limerick. He then entered Trinity College. the Anglican college in Dublin, where he excelled in mathematics and music.

After finishing at Trinity, Smyth entered a community of teaching brothers, the Brothers of the Presentation. After six years with the brothers, he decided to entered the priesthood. In 1837, he entered the Trappist Mount Melleray Abbey near Cappoquin in Ireland. In July 1857, Smyth dedicated the new St. Raphael's Cathedral.

Later in 1857, Smyth was appointed as the temporary administrator of the Diocese of Chicago. O'Regan had left Chicago for Rome to ask Pius IX to relieve him as bishop of that diocese. He had angered the French-Canadian community in the city and was unable to cope with an economic downturn there.

For the six months that Loras administered the Diocese of Chicago, he also served coadjutor bishop. One of O'Regan's biggest problems was a French-Canadian priest, Reverend Charles Paschal Chiniquy, who had set up a schismatic church in Kankakee, Illinois. Smyth was now forced to deal with him. During the war, Dubuque was a hotbed of sympathy for the Confederate States of America, especially among Irish Catholic immigrants. Smyth, a supporter of the federal government, tried to dampen these feelings. However, he flew an American flag from his rectory and visited Union Army troops stationed outside the city. During this period, Smyth recruited several priests from Ireland, primarily from All Hallows College in Dublin. This caused discontent among the French-born priests and many left the diocese.

At the end of the war, when US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Washington D.C. in April 1865, Smyth preached a stinging sermon condemning the crime. That evening, Smyth lost his coach house, carriage and horses to arson. In response, local citizens, both Catholic and Protestant, built a new coach house and bought a new carriage and a pair of horses for him. One of Smyth's final projects was the creation of an orphanage in Dubuque to take care of children left without parents due to war. However, he was unable to complete it. Death and legacy

In poor health for several years, Smyth died in Dubuque at age 55 on September 22, 1865. His remains are interred in a tomb in the mortuary chapel of St. Raphael's Cathedral. When Loras died in 1858, there were 54,000 Catholics in the diocese. When Smyth died seven years later, the number had risen to 90,000.