IRELAND, JOHN. — The most popular of the American bishops, alongside Cardinal Gibbons, born at Burnchurch (Ireland) on 1 September 1838, died at St Paul, Minnesota, on 25 September 1918. After emigrating with his parents to the United States (1852), he returned to France for his studies. Ordained priest on 21 December 1861, he served as a military chaplain during the Civil War; in 1875 he was elected titular Bishop of Maronea and auxiliary to Bishop Grace of St Paul, Minnesota, succeeding him upon the latter’s resignation (1884).
A zealous bishop in his diocese, which he endowed with a seminary (1886), colleges, schools, etc., he was also the organiser of the new ecclesiastical province. Of ardent and bold temperament, he took a decisive stand on contemporary issues, especially the social question and the new democratic trend. His numerous speeches reflect this temperament, and account for certain bold propositions contained therein. He was one of the leading advocates of parochial schools against state monopoly and played a major part in the founding of the Catholic University of America in Washington.
His principal work is The Church and the Century (2nd ed., New York 1908), translated into many languages, an exaltation of the Church and a call to the faithful of all lands to labour for the Christian conquest of the world.
He may be regarded as one of the most vivid interpreters of the good and imitable side of Americanism; the Christianiser of North American progress.