John Baptist Mary David

John Baptist Mary David, S.S. , (June 4, 1761 – July 12, 1841) was a French-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Bardstown from 1832 to 1833. He was a member of the Sulpicians.

Biography David was born in Couëron, in the Province of Brittany (now the Department of Loire-Atlantique) in pre-revolutionary France. At age 7 he was placed under the care of his uncle, a priest, who instructed the boy in Latin, French, and music.

He entered the nearby college of the Oratorians at age 14, and later the seminary of the Diocese of Nantes, receiving the tonsure in 1778. he joined the Society of Saint-Sulpice (commonly known as the Sulpicians) and taught philosophy, theology, and Scripture at the Sulpician seminary in Angers from 1786 until 1790, when the French Revolution forced him to seek shelter in the private home of a Catholic family. He was first sent by Bp. John Carroll to serve the Catholics of southern Maryland in Bryantown and missions in Charles County. While professor of philosophy at Georgetown College (1804–06), he continued to serve as a missionary to southern Maryland. He was the professor of theology at St. Mary's Seminary (1806–10) in Baltimore, where he was also acting president during 1810–11.