Triple Consecration at Old St. Pat’s

On this day in 1844, in Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manahattan, three priests working in the New York area were ordained Bishops for three different dioceses. Father John McCloskey (1810-1885) had been named Coadjutor Bishop of New York with the right of succession. Thirty-one years later he would become the first American cardinal. Father Andrew Byrne (1802-1862) was consecrated the first Bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas. Father William Quarter (1806-1848) was ordained as first Bishop of Chicago.