BYRNE, WILLIAM

BYRNE, William. - Missionary and educator, b. in 1780 in the county of Wicklow (Ireland), d. 5 June 1833 at Bardstown, in the state of Kentucky, U.S.A. From an early age he felt the call to the priesthood and, having emigrated to America at the age of 25, he settled at Georgetown College. He then began the study of Latin and, after attending Mount St. Mary’s College at Emmitsburg and the seminaries of Baltimore and Bardstown, he was ordained priest in 1819 by Bishop David. After his ordination he carried on active missionary work. Realizing the need to provide first and foremost for the education and instruction of the faithful, and especially of their children, B. founded in 1821 near Bardstown the St. Mary’s College, which he directed for twelve years. A few months before his death, he donated the institute to the Jesuits and had intended to move to Nashville to found a similar college there, but, when a cholera epidemic broke out, he went into the infected area to administer the sacraments to the dying; he himself died of the disease.