IRELAND, JOHN. - The most popular of the American bishops, alongside card. Gibbons, b. at Burnchurch (Ireland) on 11 Sept. 1838, d. at St Paul, Minnesota, on 25 Sept. 1918. Having moved with his parents to the United States (1852), he returned to France for his studies. Ordained priest on 21 Dec. 1861, he was a military chaplain during the Civil War; in 1875 he was elected titular bishop of Maronea and coadjutor to Bishop Grace of St Paul, Minnesota, whom he succeeded after 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 organizer of the new ecclesiastical province. Of ardent and audacious temperament, he turned decisively toward contemporary questions, especially the social question and the new democratic orientation. Certain bold propositions found in his numerous speeches must be explained by this temperament of his. He was one of the principal supporters of parochial schools against the state monopoly and played a major part in the foundation of the Catholic University of 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 an invitation to the faithful of all countries to work for the Christian conquest.
He may be regarded as one of the liveliest interpreters of the good and imitable side of Americanism; the Christian promoter of North American progress.