Francis Patrick McFarland

Francis Patrick McFarland (April 16, 1819 – October 2, 1874) was an American Catholic prelate who served as bishop of Hartford from 1858 until his death in 1874.

Biography

Early life

Francis McFarland was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1819. His parents, John McFarland and Mary McKeever, emigrated to the United States from Armagh in Ireland. They took up farming near Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

Priesthood On May 18, 1845, McFarland was ordained into the priesthood for the Diocese of New York at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York City by Bishop John Hughes. After McFarland's ordination, Hughes appointed him to the faculty of St. John's College in the Bronx. While teaching at St. John's, he also made missionary journeys to remote parts of the diocese, frequently visiting the sick in Stamford, Connecticut.

McFarland soon realized that he enjoyed pastoral work more than teaching. He left St. John's to serve as an assistant pastor at the Church of St. Joseph in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. The diocese in 1846 then assigned McFarland to conduct missionary work out of St. Mary's Church in Watertown in the North Country region of New York State.

In 1847, the Vatican removed all of Upstate New York from the Diocese of New York, creating the Dioceses of Buffalo and Albany. Since Watertown now resided in the Diocese of Albany, McFarland was incardinated, or transferred there. In March 1851, the first bishop of Albany, John McCloskey, moved McFarland to serve as pastor at St. John's Parish in Utica, New York.

Bishop of Hartford

On March 9, 1857, Pope Pius IX appointed McFarland as vicar apostolic of the new Apostolic Vicariate of Florida. This position would have given him ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the entire State of Florida. However, McFarland declined the appointment.

While visiting England in 1863, McFarland met Reverend Florimonde DeBruycker, a Belgian priest. McFarland convinced him to come to Connecticut to organize French-Canadian workers into parishes. He would ultimately recruit more Belgian priests to staff both French-Canadian and German parishes. McFarland also recruited an Italian priest to minister to the growing Italian immigrant population in New Haven, Connecticut.

Death and legacy By 1873, McFarland's health was declining rapidly. He visited Aiken, South Carolina, a popular winter resort, and then Richlands, Virginia, in efforts to rebuild his strength. He finally returned to Hartford to spend his remaining time.