Ryder, James, Dd

Ryder, James, D.D., a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, was born in Dublin in 1800, and emigrated to the United States in early youth. He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1815, and pursued his secular studies at Georgetown College, Md., from 1815 to 1820, and his theological studies at Rome from 1820 to 1825. He then received holy orders, and occupied the chair of theology and Sacred Scriptures in the College of Spoleto, Italy, from 1825 to 1828. He returned to America in 1828, and was for several years professor of theology and vice-president of Georgetown College. Iu 1839 he was pastor of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, and also of St. John's Church, Frederick, Md. From 1840 to 1845, and also from 1848 to 1851, he was president of Georgetown College, and from 1845 to 1848 president of the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass. He was also superior of the Order of Jesuits in the province of North America. Ryder died in 1860. He published occasional Lectures and Discourses, and was a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Americana. See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.