Ireland, John (1838-1919)

Irish-born US prelate. He was a US Civil War chaplain and cathedral rector before being named coadjutor bishop of St Paul, Minnesota, in 1875. In 1884 he became bishop of St Paul, which was made an archdiocese four years later. Regarded as a liberal and possible target of an 1899 papal encyclical condemning ‘Americanism’, he took stands on many controversial issues, as in his ‘Faribault plan’ for state support of parochial schools.

Born in County Kilkenny, he emigrated to the USA with his parents in 1849, settling in St Paul, Minnesota. He later studied in France and was ordained a priest in 1861.