Thomas Sebastian Byrne

Thomas Sebastian Byrne (July 28, 1841 – September 4, 1923) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Nashville in Tennessee from 1894 until his death in 1923. Byrne was also known for his translations and original works on Catholic history and other topics.

Biography

Early life Thomas Byrne was born on July 28, 1841, in Hamilton, Ohio, to Irish immigrants Eugene and Mary Anne (née Reynolds) Byrne. Eugene Byrne died when he was only nine months old; Thomas Byrne left school at age 11 to become an apprentice machinist. Byrne had frequently served as an altar boy to Stephen Badin, the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States.

At age 18, Byrne entered St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, Kentucky, to begin his preparatory studies for the priesthood. He helped Collier obtain a position at Sadlier, launching a successful publishing career. He remained there for three years, until failing health caused him to return to Cincinnati in October 1868. By the time of his death 30 years later in 1923, there were 25,000 Catholics, 58 churches, and 53 priests. One of Byrne's most significant accomplishments was the construction of a new cathedral. Unhappy with the size of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin of the Seven Sorrows, Byrne acquired new property in 1902 and completed the Cathedral of the Incarnation in 1914. As part of the cathedral's complex, he also built a new rectory and school. St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville was also established during his tenure.

Byrne continued to gain attention for his literary work, translating Jesus Living in the Priest by Jacques Millet (1901), An Abridgment of Christian Doctrine prescribed by Pope Pius X (1905), and Geremia Bonomelli's New Series of Homilies for the Whole Year (four volumes, 1909–1911) and Christian Mysteries (four volumes, 1910). He was the author of Man from a Catholic Point of View, which he read at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1903.

Death Thomas Byrne died at his residence in Nashville on September 4, 1923, at age 82.