- John Delavau Bryant
John Delavau Bryant (b. in
Philadelphia , U.S.A., 1811; d. 1877) was an American physician, poet, author, and editor.Life
He was the son of an
Episcopalian minister, the Rev. William Bryant. His mother, was a daughter of John Delavau, a shipbuilder ofPhiladelphia . His early education was under his father and in theEpiscopalian Academy . He received the degree of A.B. in 1839, and A.M. in 1842 from theUniversity of Pennsylvania , and entered the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York in 1839.After one year he left the seminary to travel in Europe. On his return he was received into the
Catholic Church at St. John's Church, Philadelphia, 12 February, 1842. He graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1848.In 1855, during the
yellow fever epidemic in Portsmouth andNorfolk, Virginia , he volunteered for duty and returned only after the epidemic had subsided. In 1857, he married Miss Mary Harriet Riston, daughter of George Riston.For two years in the early sixties he was editor of the "Catholic Herald".
Works
His principal work, published in 1859 by subscription, is an epic poem entitled "The Redemption", apparently inspired by a visit to
Jerusalem . It is founded on the Bible and Catholic tradition.He also published, about 1852, a controversial novel entitled "Pauline Seward" which had considerable vogue at the time, especially among Catholics, and ran through ten editions. In 1855 he published "The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God", an exposition of the dogma recently promulgated.
References
*Records of the Amer. Catholic Hist. Soc., September, 1904.
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