John Joseph Swint

{{Short description|American prelate}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = | honorific_prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend | name = John Joseph Swint | honorific_suffix = | title = Archbishop (personal title) Bishop of Wheeling Titular Bishop of Sura | image = John Joseph Swint.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | church = | archdiocese = | province = | metropolis = | diocese = | see = Diocese of Wheeling | elected =  | term = December 11, 1922 November 23, 1962 | quashed =  | predecessor = Patrick James Donahue | successor = Joseph Howard Hodges | opposed = | other_post =  | ordination = June 23, 1904 | ordained_by = Patrick James Donahue | consecration = May 11, 1922 | consecrated_by = Michael Joseph Curley | laicized =  | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1879|12|15}} | baptised =  | birth_place = Pickens, West Virginia, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1962|11|23|1879|12|15}} | death_place = Wheeling, West Virginia, US | buried =  | nationality =  | religion = Roman Catholic | residence = | parents = | education = St. Charles College St. Mary's Seminary | motto = ''Ut omnes unum sint'' (That they all may be one) | previous_post = Auxiliary Bishop of Wheeling (May to December 1922) }} '''John Joseph Swint''' (December 15, 1879 – November 23, 1962) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling in West Virginia from December 1922 until his death in 1962. He was auxiliary bishop of the same diocese from May to December 1922.

==Biography==

=== Early life === One of nine children, John Swint was born on December 15, 1879, in Pickens, West Virginia, to Peter and Caroline (née Winkler) Swint, who were immigrants from Central Europe.<ref name="curtis">{{cite book|last=Curtis|first=Georgina Pell|title=The American Catholic Who's Who|volume=XIV|year=1961|publisher=Walter Romig|location=Grosse Pointe, Michigan}}</ref><ref name="marys">{{cite news|work=St. Mary's Medical Center|title=Archbishop John J. Swint|url=http://www.st-marysfoundation.org/inductees/a_swint.php|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728052901/http://www.st-marysfoundation.org/inductees/a_swint.php|archive-date=2011-07-28}}</ref> He studied at St. Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in 1899.<ref name="curtis" /> He then enrolled at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology in 1904.<ref name="curtis" />

=== Priesthood === Swint was ordained to the priesthood in Wheeling, West Virginia, by Bishop Patrick James Donahue for the Diocese of Wheeling on June 23, 1904.<ref name="hierarchy">{{cite news|work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|title=Archbishop John Joseph Swint|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bswint.html}}</ref> After studying at the Apostolic Mission House in Washington, D.C. for a year, he returned to West Virginia and served as pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Hinton from 1905 to 1908.<ref name="curtis" /> Swint was named as head of the Diocesan Apostolate in 1908, then became pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Weston, West Virginia, in 1914.<ref name="curtis" />

=== Auxiliary Bishop and Bishop of Wheeling === thumb|285x285px|Cathedral of Saint Joseph, Wheeling, West Virginia (2025) On February 22, 1922, Swint was appointed as auxiliary bishop of Wheeling and titular bishop of Sura by Pope Pius XI.<ref name="hierarchy" /> He received his episcopal consecration on May 11, 1922, from Archbishop Michael Curley, with Bishops Denis J. O'Connell and Hugh Boyle serving as co-consecrators, at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Wheeling.<ref name="hierarchy" /> Following the death of Donahue, Swint was named the fourth bishop of Wheeling by Pope Pius XI on December 11, 1922.<ref name="hierarchy" />

Nicknamed "God's Bricklayer," Swint established twenty-five parishes, seven missions, two hospitals, two nursing homes, the Sacred Heart Children's Home in Wheeling, and the diocesan chapter of Catholic Charities.<ref name="history">{{cite news|work=Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston|title=God's Bricklayer: Archbishop John J. Swint, 1922-1962|url=https://dwc.org/gods-bricklayer-archbishop-john-j-swint-1922-1962/|access-date=2020-02-18|archive-date=2020-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218143953/https://dwc.org/gods-bricklayer-archbishop-john-j-swint-1922-1962/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He held the seventh (1923) and eighth (1933) diocesan synods.<ref name="history" />

Swint laid the cornerstone for a new cathedral in Wheeling in 1924, dedicating the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in 1926.<ref name="cathedral">{{cite news|work=Saint Joseph Cathedral|title=CATHEDRAL PARISH AND ITS CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY IN THE DIOCESE OF WHEELING|url=http://www.saintjosephcathedral.com/history.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228090645/http://www.saintjosephcathedral.com/history.htm|archive-date=2009-12-28}}</ref> He also invited the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the Pallottine Missionary Sisters into the diocese.<ref name="history" /> The Vatican named Swint as an assistant at the pontifical throne in 1929.<ref name="curtis" />

In 1948, Swint threatened to excommunicate any Catholic women from the diocese who participated in the state competition for the Miss America pageant. He called the pageant "pagan" and stated that if "nakedness" were removed from the pageant, it would "fall to pieces".<ref name="PittsPress">{{cite news |date=24 June 1948 |title=Catholic Bishop Forces Wheeling Girls to Quit Miss America Contest |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OjsbAAAAIBAJ&pg=3003,3079319&dq=catholic+bishop&hl=en |access-date=27 March 2019}}</ref> Two women withdrew from competition, but one contestant, Mariruth Ford, ignored his ban and participated, winning the title of Miss West Virginia.<ref name="PittsPress2">{{cite news |date=24 June 1949 |title=Beauty Bows to Church Contest Ban |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15374973/mariruth_ford_excommunication_aftermath/ |access-date=27 March 2019}}</ref>

In July 1952, Swint condemned the planned opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Parkersburg, West Virginia, that would provide contraception services to women. He said it was part of a national plan by doctors to break the Catholic Church's ban on birth control.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1952-07-10 |title=BIRTH CONTROL OPPOSED; Bishop Accuses Physicians as Clinic Is Scheduled |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/07/10/archives/birth-control-opposed-bishop-accuses-physicians-as-clinic-is.html |access-date=2022-06-01 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Swint was given the personal title of archbishop by the Vatican on March 12, 1954.<ref name="hierarchy" />

=== Death === John Swint died in Wheeling on November 23, 1962, at age 82.<ref name="hierarchy" />

== Publications ==

* ''The Moral Law'' (1933) * ''The Parables of the Kingdom'' (1934) * ''The Bread from Heaven'' (1935) * ''Christ the Organizer of the Church'' (1936) * ''Back to Christ'' (1940) * ''Forgotten Truths'' (1940) * ''The Sweetest Story Ever Told'' (1947)<ref name="curtis" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=Patrick James Donahue | title=Bishop of Wheeling| years=1922—1962 | after=Joseph Howard Hodges }} {{s-end}} {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swint, John Joseph}} Category:1879 births Category:1962 deaths Category:American religious writers Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Wheeling–Charleston Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Category:Writers from Randolph County, West Virginia Category:People from Weston, West Virginia Category:St. Charles College (Maryland) alumni Category:St. Mary's Seminary and University alumni Category:Writers from Lewis County, West Virginia

John Joseph Swint

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