James Cardinal Gibbons was born in Baltimore, MD. He was ordained a priest on June 30, 1861. He was a Civil War Chaplain and eventually became secretary to the Archbishop of Baltimore, Most Rev. Martin J. Spalding. In 1868 he was named bishop of North Carolina and had a flock of 700 Catholics over 50,000 square miles. In 1869, Bishop Gibbons went to Rome as the youngest prelate at the First Vatican Council. He was transferred to the diocese of Richmond in 1872 and in 1877 was named Archbishop of Baltimore. He presided over the National Church council at Catholic University in 1884 and was the preeminent leader of Catholicism in America.
In 1886 he was elevated to James Cardinal Gibbons by Pope Leo XIII. A prudent leader as archbishop, he discouraged ethnically separate parishes, circumvented church condemnation of the Knights of Columbus, and acted as an interpreter between the Vatican and American Catholicism. In 1911 two U.S. presidents joined in observing the 50th anniversary of his ordination. His writings included Our Christian Heritage, The Ambassador of Christ, and The Faith of Our Fathers (1876), a simple exposition of beliefs, which became a Catholic best-seller.
James Cardinal Gibbons was born in Baltimore, MD. He was ordained a priest on June 30, 1861. He was a Civil War Chaplain and eventually became secretary to the Archbishop of Baltimore, Most Rev. Martin J. Spalding. In 1868 he was named bishop of North Carolina and had a flock of 700 Catholics over 50,000 square miles. In 1869, Bishop Gibbons went to Rome as the youngest prelate at the First Vatican Council. He was transferred to the diocese of Richmond in 1872 and in 1877 was named Archbishop of Baltimore. He presided over the National Church council at Catholic University in 1884 and was the preeminent leader of Catholicism in America.