Henry P. Northrop

Henry Pinckney Northrop (May 5, 1842 – June 7, 1916) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Charleston from 1883 until his death in 1916. He previously served as Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina from 1881 to 1888.

Early life Birth and family background Henry Pinckney Northrop was born on May 5, 1842, in Charleston, South Carolina. His father, Claudian Bird Northrop, was a lawyer and brother of Lucius B. Northrop, who served as Commissary-General of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. His mother, Hannah Eliza Northrop (née Anderson), was born in Scotland and died during childbirth in 1853. Henry was the third of their seven children; one brother, Lucius C. Northrop, later served as U.S. Attorney for South Carolina (1878–1881).

The Northrop family were converts to Catholicism who had previously attended St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Charleston. Henry was received into the Catholic Church on August 15, 1849. During the war, Henry's brother John served in the Confederate States Army and was blinded during the Battle of Gaines' Mill. Amid the Carolinas campaign, his father was found dead in February 1865. According to J. Marion Sims, he was hanged by bummers ; according to Father Jeremiah O'Connell, uncle of Bishop Denis J. O'Connell, he died from apoplexy. He remained there for three years, but poor health led him to enroll at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He returned to the United States that summer. He then served as an assistant pastor at St. Joseph Church for a year, except for four months in 1866 when he was assigned to St. Thomas Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, to temporarily replace Father James Andrew Corcoran while the latter was attending the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore. He celebrated his father's long-delayed Requiem Mass in February 1867.

In June 1867, Northrop was placed in charge of St. Paul Church in New Bern, North Carolina, and the accompanying mission that covered nearly half of the state. When the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina was created in 1868, Northrop was loaned by Bishop Lynch to the new vicar apostolic, Bishop James Gibbons, and continued at New Bern. A new terna was submitted in May 1881,

Bishop of Charleston In addition to his duties in North Carolina, Northrop was appointed the fourth Bishop of Charleston by Leo XIII on January 27, 1883.

At the beginning of Northrop's tenure, the diocese contained 20 priests, 18 churches, six chapels, three academies, and four parochial schools. By the time of his death, there were 24 priests, 33 churches, 75 stations, eight chapels, five academies, and eight parochial schools to serve 9,300 Catholics. He also oversaw the construction of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which began in 1890, and dedicated it in 1907.

St. Peter Church In April 1888, Northrop prohibited white Catholics in Charleston from attending St. Peter Church, which had been established by Bishop Lynch in 1867 to serve the city's Black Catholics. Many white Catholics had been attending the church because it did not require a pew tax or rent. James A. Spencer, one of St. Peter's trustees, wrote to Northrop to clarify whether Black Catholics could attend other churches in the city.

In 1902, Northrop opened a new and larger parochial school for St. Peter's. He also established a new convent for the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, who staffed the school. He is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.