Background
Benjamin Keiley was born in St. Petersburg, Virginia, to John D. and Margaret (née Crowley) Keiley, who were both natives of Cork County, Ireland.
bishop theologian Catholic priest
Benjamin Keiley was born in St. Petersburg, Virginia, to John D. and Margaret (née Crowley) Keiley, who were both natives of Cork County, Ireland.
He attended Saint Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland before furthering his studies in Rome at the Pontifical North American College in 1869.
He served as the bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia from 1900 to 1922. Early life and education
Receiving his early education in St. Petersburg, Benjamin entered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in 1864. Ordination and ministry
Upon his return to Virginia, Keiley was ordained to the priesthood on December 31, 1873.
He then served as pastor of Saint Peter"s Church in New Castle, Delaware until 1880, when he became rector of the pro-cathedral at Wilmington.
When Bishop Thomas A. Becker was transferred to the Diocese of Savannah in 1886, Keiley accompanied him to Georgia and there served as vicar general and pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Atlanta until 1896. He was rector of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist from 1896 to 1900.
Bishop of Savannah
On April 2, 1900, Keiley was appointed by Pope Leo XIII to succeed the late Becker as the seventh Bishop of Savannah. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 3 from Cardinal James Gibbons, with Bishops Henry Pinckney Northrop and John Jay Monaghan serving as co-consecrators, at Saint Peter"s Cathedral in Richmond.
During his tenure, he completely restored the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, which had been destroyed by fire in 1898.
He dedicated the new edifice in October 1900. Keiley publicly criticized President Theodore Roosevelt for inviting Booker T. Washington to the White House, and once stated, "In America no black man should be ordained. Just as illegitimate sons are declared irregular by canon law..so blacks can be declared irregular because they are held in such contempt by whites." After twenty-one years as Bishop, he resigned due to ill health on March 18, 1922.
He was appointed Titular Bishop of Scilium on the same date.
Keiley later died in Atlanta, aged 77. At his funeral Mass, his bier was draped with a Confederate flag with a laurel wreath sent by the United Daughters of the Confederacy at the foot.