James Roosevelt Bayley (1814-1877)

Born to an affluent New York family, he was a distant cousin of two Presidents named Roosevelt and nephew to a saint named Seton. Originally he thought of careers in the navy and in medicine, but he opted instead for the ministry. After studying at Amherst, he entered Trinity College, Connecticut, for divinity studies. He graduated here in 1835 and was ordained an Episcopalian priest. He was assigned to a parish in Harlem. In 1841, he resigned his parish and became a Catholic, an act that led his wealthy Roosevelt grandfather to disinherit him. Ordained in 1844, he became president of St. John’s College in the Bronx (now Fordham University). He then served as private secretary to New York Bishop John Hughes until 1853, when he was named first Bishop of Newark. By the time he left Newark in 1872, a solid Catholic footing was established in Newark, replete with schools, hospitals, convents, college, and seminary. In 1872, he was named the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore, a post he held until his death in 1877. The Catholic Encyclopedia says: “He was a noble model of a Christian bishop. He seemed animated with the spirit of St. Francis de Sales, full of zeal in the episcopal office and of kindness and charity to all mankind.”

(Adapted from the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia)