John Carroll of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Thus was achieved the amendment to the third article of the American Constitution regarding religious freedom, which remains in force to this day.
John C. is justly called the father of the Catholic Church in the United States: when he found it little organized, poor, and persecuted by the intolerance of Protestant sects, he 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. Seton (q.v.), founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. Extremely hospitable and charitable, pleasant in conversation, broadly tolerant of others' opinions, he was a man of great piety and profound humility, so much so that he wished to die stretched out on the floor of his room.
Of the few writings he gave to the press, the following are remembered: *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 the first President of the United States; *A Discourse on General Washington* (Baltimore 1800), a funeral eulogy of the Father of His Country, delivered in the Baltimore cathedral on 22 February 1800.