John Joseph Lynch

{{Short description|Irish prelate of the Catholic church}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Use Irish English|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = | honorific_prefix = The Most Reverend | name = John Joseph Lynch | honorific_suffix = CM | title = Archbishop of Toronto | image = John J. Lynch.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | church = Catholic Church | archdiocese = | province = | metropolis = | diocese = Archdiocese of Toronto | see = | appointed = 26 April 1860 | term_end = 12 May 1888 (his death) | quashed = | predecessor = Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel | successor = John Walsh | opposed = | other_post =  | ordination = 10 June 1843 | ordained_by = Daniel Murray | consecration = 20 November 1859 | consecrated_by = Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel | cardinal = | created_cardinal_by = | rank = | laicized =  | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1816|02|06}} | baptised = | birth_place = Clones, County Fermanagh, Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1888|05|12|1816|02|06}} | death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | buried = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | religion = | residence = | parents = | spouse = | children = | occupation = | profession = | education = | alma_mater = | motto = | signature = | signature_alt = | coat_of_arms = | coat_of_arms_alt =  | feast_day = | venerated = | saint_title = | beatified_date = | beatified_place = | beatified_by = | canonized_date = | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | attributes = | patronage = | shrine = | suppressed_date =  | module = | module2 = | other = }} '''John Joseph Lynch''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=CM}} (6 February 1816 – 12 May 1888) was an Irish Catholic prelate who served as the third Bishop (1860–1870) and first Archbishop of Toronto (1870–1888). He founded Our Lady of Angels Seminary (now Niagara University) in 1856. He was a member of the Vincentians.

==Biography== ===Early life in Ireland=== Lynch was born on 6 February 1816 in Clones, County Fermanagh, to James and Ann (née Connolly) Lynch.<ref name=humphries>{{cite encyclopedia|title=LYNCH, JOHN JOSEPH|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Canadian Biography|year=1982|last=Humphries|first=Charles W.|publisher=University of Toronto/Université Laval|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/lynch_john_joseph_11E.html}}</ref> His father was a schoolmaster at a hedge school.<ref name=stranges>{{cite book|last=Stranges|first=John B.|date=2007|title=The Rainbow Never Fades: Niagara University 1856-2006|publisher=Peter Lang}}</ref> He and his family later moved to the Dublin suburb of Lucan, where he received his early education. When the Congregation of the Mission (also known as the Vincentians or Lazarists) opened Castleknock College in 1835, Lynch was the first student to enroll.<ref name=bryan>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Lynch, John Joseph|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Irish Biography|year=2009|last=Bryan|first=Deirdre|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/lynch-john-joseph-a4946}}</ref> He entered the seminary of St. Lazare in Paris in 1837, making his profession as a Vincentian on 21 November 1841.<ref name=hierarchy>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/blynchjj.html|title=Archbishop John Joseph Lynch, C.M.|website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org}}</ref>

His superiors sent him back to Ireland for his priestly ordination, which was performed on 10 June 1843 by Archbishop Daniel Murray in Maynooth.<ref name=toronto>{{cite web|url=https://www.archtoronto.org/fr/offices-and-ministries/administrative-offices-1/archives/home/our-history/past-ordinaries/lynch/|title=Most Reverend John Joseph Lynch, C.M.|website=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto}}</ref> He engaged in pastoral work until 1846, when his fellow Vincentian, Bishop John Odin, visited Ireland to recruit priests for Texas and Lynch offered his services.<ref name=mckeown>{{cite book|last=McKeown|first=H.C.|date=1886|title=The Life and Labors of Most Rev. John Joseph Lynch, D.D., Cong. Miss., First Archbishop of Toronto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=by1OAAAAYAAJ|location=Toronto|publisher=James A. Sadler}}</ref>

===Missionary in America=== After a voyage of a few weeks, Lynch arrived in New Orleans on 29 June 1846 and then went to join Bishop Odin in Galveston.<ref name=mckeown/> At the time of his arrival in July 1846, the Catholic population of Texas numbered around 10,000 people scattered over an immense area of land, and many Irish immigrants had abandoned Catholicism due to the lack of Catholic churches at that time.<ref name=mckeown/> With Houston serving as his base, he began work as a circuit rider and traveled through cities and prairies on horseback. He worked to convert non-Catholics and to administer the sacraments to Catholics, many of whom had not seen a priest in years. It was demanding and often dangerous work; Lynch would later recall that he reached "the point of death three times, was anointed once, and had no priest within 100 miles."<ref name=stranges/>

When his health began to suffer, Lynch was sent in 1848 to recuperate at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri, the American headquarters of the Vincentians and home of a diocesan seminary.<ref name=humphries/> He was named rector of the seminary the following year, serving until 1856. During his tenure at the Barrens, he was asked by John Timon, a fellow Vincentian and the Bishop of Buffalo, to establish a new seminary in his diocese.<ref name=bryan/> In 1855, while representing the American province at the Vincentian assembly in Paris, Lynch obtained approval from the Superior General for the project.<ref name=stranges/> He founded the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels (later known as Niagara University) at Niagara Falls in 1856 and served as its first president.<ref name=stranges/>

===Bishop in Canada=== On 26 August 1859, Lynch was appointed coadjutor bishop with the right of succession to Bishop Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel of the Diocese of Toronto, Canada.<ref name=hierarchy/> He was also given the titular see of ''Echinus''.<ref name=hierarchy/> He received his episcopal consecration on the following 20 November from Bishop de Charbonnel, with Bishop Timon of Buffalo and Bishop John Farrell of Hamilton serving as co-consecrators, at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto.

Bishop de Charbonnel, who struggled to understand English, had long sought a coadjutor to replace him so he could return to France.<ref name=kehoe>{{cite journal|last1=Kehoe|first1=Richard J.|date=1992|title=Becoming a Bishop and Remaining a Vincentian: The Struggles of Archbishop John Joseph Lynch, C.M.|url= https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol13/iss2/3|journal=Vincentian Heritage Journal|volume=13|issue=2}}</ref> He resigned almost immediately and Lynch succeeded him as the third Bishop of Toronto on 26 April 1860.<ref name=hierarchy/> On 18 March 1870, while Lynch was attending the First Vatican Council, Toronto was elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Pius IX, promoting Lynch to Archbishop.

While he fought for a fair Catholic separate school system, Lynch had warm relationships with Protestant leaders like Oliver Mowat and Egerton Ryerson, to which some Catholics and other bishops objected.<ref name=humphries/> He also encouraged the consideration of Catholics for patronage appointments and other political offices.<ref name=humphries/> Concerned about the public image of the Irish community, he encouraged them to practice temperance to show they were responsible citizens.<ref name=bryan/> He supported the Irish Home Rule movement but opposed physical force nationalism, forbidding Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa from entering St. Michael's Cathedral when he visited Toronto in 1878.<ref name=bryan/>

Lynch oversaw a period of significant growth in the diocese. During his 28 years as bishop and archbishop, 70 priests were ordained, 40 churches, 30 presbyteries, and 7 convents were established.<ref name=humphries/> He convoked diocesan synods in 1863 and 1882, as well as a provincial council in 1875. He celebrated the silver jubilee of his ordination as a priest in 1868 and bishop in 1884.

Lynch died in Toronto on 12 May 1888, at age 72. He is buried in the garden of St Michael's Cathedral.

==Legacy== John J. Lynch High School in Toronto, Ontario was named after him in his honor when it opened in 1963 and now known today as Senator O'Connor College School since 1967.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel}} {{succession box | before=Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel| title=Bishop of Toronto| after= himself as Archbishop of Toronto | years=1860–1870}} {{succession box | before=himself as Bishop of Toronto| title=Archbishop of Toronto| after= John Walsh | years=1870–1888}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, John Joseph}} Category:1816 births Category:1888 deaths Category:19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Category:19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Toronto Category:Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Category:People from Clones, County Monaghan Category:Irish Vincentians Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Toronto Category:Burials at St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica Category:People educated at Castleknock College Category:Vincentian bishops