John Joseph Lynch

John Joseph Lynch C.M. (6 February 1816 – 12 May 1888) was the Bishop of Toronto from 1860 to 1870 and the last Bishop as the diocese and the first Archbishop of Toronto (1870-1888).

Early years

Born in Co. Monaghan in Clones, Co. Monaghan, Ireland, son of James and Anne Lynch and was religious at a very young age. He attended Castleknock College and College of St. Lazare, Paris. After his studies, Lynch entered the church as Priest of Congregation of the Mission and preached in Blackrock, County Dublin.

Later Years

He left for North America and landed with Father Fitzgerald at New Orleans. The then Father Lynch tended to wounded and sick American soldiers of the Mexican War. He was later transferred to the College of St. Mary of the Barrens, in Perry County, Missouri. In 1849 he left for Paris and Rome for more religious studies. After his second round of studies, Lynch was invited back to America and help establish a seminary in the Diocese of Buffalo in Upstate New York.

He came to Toronto as Coadjutor Bishop and Titular Bishop of Echinus in 1859. Archbishop Lynch died in 1888 and was buried at garden of St. Michael's Cathedral (Cemetery of Lucan) in Toronto, Ontario.

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5668 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/blynchjj.html John Joseph Lynch]
* [http://www.eiretek.org/chapters/books/Lucania/Lucania7.htm VII. Archbishop Lynch.]