James Whitfield

James Whitfield, PSS (November 3, 1770 – October 19, 1834) was an English-born Catholic prelate who served as archbishop of Baltimore from 1828 until his death in 1834. He was a member of the Sulpicians.

A businessman from a wealthy English family, Whitfield enter a Catholic seminary in France as an adult in the early 1800s and was ordained a priest in the Sulpician Order in 1809. After serving as a priest in England for several years, he traveled to Maryland in 1817 to serve in the Diocese of Baltimore. He was rector of the cathedral and vicar general of archdiocese until being appointed archbishop in 1828.

Whitfield is known for hosting the first two provincial councils of American bishops, where policies for running the new American Catholic Church were established. He is also known for spending his personal fortune to build churches and sponsor priests, and for his assistance to the African-American community.

Biography

Early life James Whitfield was born on November 3, 1770, in Liverpool, England, to James and Ann (née Genders) Whitfield. His father was a successful merchant who educated his son in business. After James Whitfield senior died in 1787, James Whitfield junior and his mother traveled to Italy in hopes of improving her health. While in Italy, Whitfield worked in commercial business. During the early 1800s, the Whitfields decided to return to England. However, while traveling in France, the mother and son were detained in Lyon because France, then at war with England, had banned travel there.

In Lyon, Whitfield met Reverend Ambrose Maréchal, a French priest with the Sulpician Order who was teaching at their seminary in the city. Inspired by Maréchal to enter the priesthood, Whitfield started studying theology at the seminary, where he was considered an outstand student. Also in 1828, Whitfield laid the cornerstone of a building to house the St. Mary's Catholic Female Orphan Asylum in Baltimore.

When Whitfield became archbishop, the archdiocese comprised around 87,000 Catholics and 52 priests. Whitfield used his personal wealth to build churches in the archdiocese, He also appealed for donations from King Louis XVIII of France and his successor, King Charles X, both of whom sent money to the archdiocese. When Whitfield was struck by cholera, Sister Anthony Duchemin from the Oblate Sisters, the order he had founded, nursed him back to health. In 1833, Whitfield laid the cornerstone for St. James the Less Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore, which he paid for at his own expense.

Death and legacy With his health failing, Whitfield requested that the Vatican appoint a coadjutor archbishop to assist him. On March 4, 1834, Pope Gregory XVI appointed Reverend Samuel Eccleston as coadjutor archbishop of Baltimore. James Whitfield died on October 19, 1834, at age 64.