CARROLL. — Under this surname two Catholic and patriotic families of Maryland in the 18th and 19th centuries are to be remembered, united by a certain kinship through the female line. To the first, which came from England (1688) and Baltimore (v.), belongs the patriot CHARLES C. OF CARROLLTON (1737–1832), statesman and active advocate of American independence, senator of Maryland. The second, of Irish origin (early 18th century), includes DANIEL C. (1733–1829), ardent patriot, representative of Maryland in the first Continental Congress (1780–84) and in the Philadelphia Convention (1789) for the revision of the American Constitution, and his brother JOHN C., father of the American Catholic Church, first bishop and archbishop of Baltimore, b. at Upper Marlboro on 8 May 1735, d. at Baltimore on 3 Dec. 1815. After completing his studies at the Jesuit college of St-Omer (France), he entered the Society of Jesus in 1753 and was ordained priest in 1769. With the suppression of the Society (1773), he returned to Maryland where, together with other Jesuits, he worked for the evangelization of the region, also actively supporting the cause of American independence. In 1776 he accompanied B. Franklin, S. Chase, and C. C. of Carrollton to Canada to invite the Canadians to join the Americans in the cause of independence. When Pius VI separated the American Catholics from the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic of England, John C. was appointed Apostolic Prefect of all the United States (1784); upon the establishment of the first episcopal see in Baltimore (v.), he was elected its first bishop (1789, consecrated in England on 15 Aug. 1790) and archbishop (1808). During the revision of the American Constitution (1789), John C. was entrusted by the Catholics with preparing a memorial in defense of the rights of Catholics who had taken a prominent part in the War of Independence. The memorial was presented to Congress by Washington and supported by Franklin, a personal friend of John C., and by the two Catholic delegates, Daniel C. and Thomas FitzSimons, representing Maryland and Pennsylvania. Thus was obtained the amendment to the third article of the American Constitution regarding religious freedom, still in force today.
John C. is justly called the father of the American Catholic Church: he found it little organized, poor, and persecuted by Protestant sectarian intolerance, and left it at his death flourishing with bishops, clergy, seminaries, religious houses, schools, and educational colleges. He particularly favored the Sulpicians (1791) and Mother E. SEGATO (v.), foundress of the Sisters of Charity. Extremely hospitable and charitable, pleasant in conversation, broadly tolerant of others’ opinions, he was a man of great piety and profound humility, to the point of wishing to die stretched upon the floor of his room.
Of the few writings he gave to the press, the following are noted: *Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of America* (Annapolis 1784), a reply to the apostate C. Wharton; *An Address from the Roman Catholics of America to W. Washington Esq., President of the U. States* (London 1790), a patriotic address to G. Washington on the occasion of his election as first President of the United States; *A Discourse on General Washington* (Baltimore 1800), a funeral oration in honor of the Father of His Country, delivered in Baltimore Cathedral on 22 Feb. 1800.
A. Pietro Frutaz