Patrick Neeson Lynch was a Catholic priest and bishop. He also was a Bishop of Charleston from 1858 to 1882.
Background
Patrick Neeson Lynch was born on March 10, 1817, at Clones, Ireland. His parents were Conlaw Peter and Eleanor Nelson Lynch. The Lynches were originally a Galway family, some of whom had been banished in the seventeenth century and settled in Fermanagh and Monaghan. The Lynches emigrated to the United States in 1819 and settled in Cheraw, South Carolina. Lynch was one of fourteen children.
Education
Lynch received his early education at the Seminary of St. John the Baptist. He was sent to study at the College of the Propaganda (Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide) in Rome. Later he received the degree of doctor of divinity and was ordained on April 5, 1840, by the Cardinal Prefect.
Career
Lynch became successively rector of St. Mary's Church, Charleston in 1845, rector of the Cathedral in 1847, and vicar-general in 1850. Upon the death of the Right Reverend Ignatius Reynolds, he was consecrated bishop, at Charleston, by the Most Reverend F. P. Kenrick on March 14, 1858. His episcopal ring, a gift, had once been worn by Cardinal Ximenes. Lynch proved not only a successful administrator but also a forceful preacher and writer who had profited by experience gained as a professor of theology and editor of the United States Catholic Miscellany. The coming of Ursuline Sisters, invited to establish an academy in the diocese, aroused much non-Catholic opposition. This slowly disappeared, however, and Lynch reported favorably upon conditions when he attended the ninth council of the province of Baltimore in 1858.
At the opening of the Civil War, he was ministering to ten thousand Catholics. But a disastrous fire which swept Charleston on December 11, 1861, destroyed the Cathedral, the bishop's residence, and other ecclesiastical structures, causing a loss of $180,000. Undaunted, the bishop erected temporary chapels and found time to intervene on behalf of Federal prisoners sent south from the battlefields of the war. During 1863, Lynch went to Rome bearing a letter from Jefferson Davis expressing the desire of the Confederacy for peace. Pius IX replied, December 3, 1863, by saying: "May it please God at the same time to make the other peoples of America and their rulers, reflecting seriously how terrible is civil war, and what calamities it engenders, listen to the inspirations of a calmer spirit, and adopt resolutely the part of peace." This was widely taken to imply any endorsement of the Confederacy. The Holy See promptly denied such intention, however, pointing to the fact that it had no diplomatic relations with the Confederacy. Shortly afterward, Sherman's army marched into the Carolinas, and much remaining Catholic property was destroyed.
When peace had been signed, Lynch, still abroad, petitioned Secretary of State Seward for permission to return, pleading his kindness to Federal prisoners. The request was granted, January 12, 1866, and the Bishop arrived to find his diocese in ruins and his scattered priests discouraged. He, therefore, visited many cities in the North for the purpose of collecting alms and was so successful in this as well as so instrumental in promoting better feeling between North and South that he was widely termed "ambassador of goodwill." Once again he went to Rome, attending in 1869 the Vatican Council where he upheld the dogma of papal infallibility.
Religion
The Lynches became the leading Catholic family in Cheraw. As a boy, Patrick Lynch manifested high intelligence and an interest in becoming a priest.
Politics
Lynch supported the Davis administration.
Personality
Patrick's imposing figure (he was more than six feet in height) and his eloquence enforced respect.