Stephen Vincent Ryan

Stephen Vincent Ryan, C.M. (January 1, 1825 – April 10, 1896) was a Canadian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Congregation of the Mission, he served as Bishop of Buffalo from 1868 until his death in 1896.

Biography Early life Stephen Ryan was born on January 1, 1825 in Almonte, Ontario, to Martin and Margaret (née McCarthy) Ryan. His parents were natives of the Kingdom of Ireland who lived in Sixmilebridge before immigrating to Canada, and Ryan was the fifth of their nine children. At his baptism, the priest is alleged to have remarked, "This child will command an army yet." When Ryan was three years old, the family moved to Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He was confirmed by the visiting Mexican bishop Joaquín Fernández de Madrid y Canal in 1835 and then took the name Vincent. After the accession of a Vincentian rector at the seminary, he decided to join that religious order and enrolled at St. Mary's Seminary of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri.

Priesthood Ryan was ordained a priest for the Vincentians on June 24, 1849, by Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick in St. Louis, Missouri. In one of his final acts as visitor, he transferred the provincial headquarters from St. Louis to the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1867.

Bishop of Buffalo On March 3, 1868, Ryan was appointed as the second bishop of Buffalo by Pope Pius IX. He founded the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Union. He also engaged in a public controversy with Arthur Coxe, the Episcopal Bishop of Western New York, over the issue of apostolic succession.

Death Ryan died on April 10, 1896, in Buffalo at age 71. He was interred next to Bishop John Timon at St. Joseph's Cathedral. His tenure as bishop spanned 28 years, the longest in the history of the diocese.