William Quarter
The Right Reverend William J. Quarter | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Chicago | |
 | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Chicago |
| See | Chicago |
| In office | March 10, 1844 – April 10, 1848 |
| Predecessor | None |
| Successor | James Oliver Van de Velde, S.J. |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | September 19, 1829 by John Dubois |
| Consecration | March 10, 1844 by John Joseph Hughes |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 21, 1806 |
| Died | April 10, 1848 (aged 42) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
William J. Quarter (January 21, 1806 – April 10, 1848) was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Chicago, serving there from 1844 to 184..
Biography
[edit]Early years
[edit]William Quarter was born on January 21, 1806 in Killurin, King's County, in Ireland to Michael and Ann (née Bennet) Quarter.[1] The third of four sons, he had three brothers: John, Walter and James;[1] Walter and James also joined the priesthood, but James died before his ordination.[2]
William Quarter studied the classics at private academies in Tullamore, Ireland from 1814 to 1822.[1]While preparing to enter St. Patrick's College, the main Irish seminary in Maynooth, Quarter met a priest who had served as a missionary in the United States.[2] The priest told Quarter that many of the Irish immigrants there were not receiving the sacraments of the Catholic Church due to the shortage of priests and churches.[2] At that point, Quarter decided to enter a seminary in the British Colony of Quebec with the goal of being ordained and becoming a missionary.[1]
With permission from Bishop James Doyle of Kildare and Leighlin, Quarter sailed from from Ireland in April 1822, arriving in Quebec City.[2] He then applied for admission to seminaries operated by the Archdiocese of Quebec and the Diocese of Montreal, but they rejected him because he was too young.[2][3]
Quarter then traveled to Emmitsburg, Maryland, in the United States to apply to Mount St. Mary's College, the first seminary in the United States; he was accepted there.[2][3] While at Mount St. Mary's, Quarter became professor of Greek and Latin, as well as as sacristan in 1823. He completed his theological studies in 1829 at Mount St. Mary's and then traveled to New York City.[1][2]
Priesthood
[edit]Quarter was ordained into the priesthood by Bishop John Dubois in New York on September 19, 1829, for the Diocese of New York. [4] After his ordination, the diocese assigned Quarter as a curate at St. Peter's Parish in Manhattan, the oldest parish in the state. During the cholera epidemic of the summer of 1832, Quarter ministered to the sick and dying.[2] He placed the children who had been orphaned by the epidemic under the care of the Sisters of Charity.[3]
In 1833, the diocese appointed Quarter as pastor of St. Mary's Parish on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He opened a parish school there.[3] In 1840, Quarter began conversing with Maximilian Oertel, a former Lutheran minister from the Kingdom of Bavaria who had become disillusioned with his church. After receiving spiritual guidance from Quarter, Oertel converted to Catholicism that year.[2]
Bishop of Chicago
[edit]On November 28, 1843, Quarter was appointed the first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Chicago in Illinois by Pope Gregory XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on March 10, 1844, from Bishop John Hughes, with Bishops Benedict Fenwick and Richard Whelan serving as co-consecrators, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan[4] Accompanied by his brother Walter (who later became vicar general), Quarter arrived in Chicago on May 5, 1844.[2]
The Bishop completed St. Mary's Cathedral in 1845, and eliminated the diocese's $5,000 debt from his own resources and the contributions of members of his family.[3] The founder of Catholic education in Chicago, he established University of Saint Mary of the Lake and Saint Xavier University, as well as the first parochial school.[5] He also introduced into the diocese the Sisters of Mercy from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including Mary Francis Xavier Warde.[6] He held the first diocesan synod and was the first American bishop to establish theological conferences.[3][6] It was also due principally to Quarter's efforts that the Illinois General Assembly passed in 1845 the bill according to which the Bishop of Chicago was incorporated as a "corporation sole" with power to "hold real and other property in trust for religious purposes."[6] During his four-year-long tenure, he founded 30 churches and ordained 29 priests.[5]
Quarter died in Chicago on April 10, 1848, at the age of 42.[2]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Kearney, John. "Bishop William Quarter (1806–1848) – First Catholic Bishop of Chicago". Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Clarke, Richard Henry. "Right Rev. William Quarter, D.D.". Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States.
- ^ a b c d e f Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske. "William Quarter". Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
- ^ a b "Bishop William J. Quarter". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
- ^ a b Garraghan, Gilbert Joseph. "Bishop Quarter". The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673–1871.
- ^ a b c "Archdiocese of Chicago". Catholic Encyclopedia.
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- 1806 births
- 1848 deaths
- 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
- Irish emigrants to the United States
- Christian clergy from County Offaly
- 19th-century Irish people
- Roman Catholic bishops of Chicago
- Burials at the Bishop's Mausoleum, Mount Carmel Cemetery (Hillside)
- 19th-century American clergy