Lynch, Patrick Niesen, Dd

Lynch, Patrick Niesen, D.D.

a Roman Catholic prelate and scholar, was born at Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland, March 10, 1817. In 1819 his parents came to America, and settled at Cheraw, S.C. At that time there was but one priest in the state, Dr. Gallagher, though Dr. England arrived next year to be the first bishop of Charleston, and opened St. John the Baptist's Seminary, at which Patrick Lynch was one of the earliest pupils. He was sent to the College of the Propaganda, Rome, where he was one of its most brilliant students, and was ordained priest and graduated doctor of divinity. In 1840 he returned to Charleston, and became assistant pastor of the cathedral, of St. Mary's Church, principal of the Collegiate Institute, and vicargeneral. On the death of bishop Reynolds, in 1855, Lynch became administrator, and on March 14, 1858, he was consecrated bishop of Charleston. The civil war soon came, and with it the destruction of his cathedral, house, and other Church property in Charleston and throughout the state. The rest of his life was a constant toil with debt, which was too much for his naturally robust constitution and vigorous mind, and brought him prematurely to his end. He died in Charleston, February 26, 1882. Bishop Lynch was noted for his quiet benevolence and literary activity. In 1848 he took charge of a hospital during the yellow fever, and in 1871, on another outbreak of the disease, was never absent from his post. He was a thorough scholar, and a devoted student of applied science. He was a contributor to magazines, author of letters to the Catholic World on the Vatican Council, articles on the Blood of St. Januarius, in the same, now published anonymously in book form, contributed to the American Catholic Quarterly Review, and edited and revised Deharbe's Series of Catechisms. He was pleasant and affable in social intercourse, and a fine orator. See (N.Y.) Catholic Annual, 1883, page 57.