Papal Bull for the Establishment of the Diocese

From the Archdiocese of Baltimore Archives, Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary & University, found in the following collection: Archbishops’ Papers, General, Special B Collection, Roman Documents, 1783-1863, pp. 25-27.

[Translation provided by Most Rev. David B. Thompson]

Pope Pius VII,

Beloved Brother, Greetings and Apostolic Benediction

Among the numerous and very important concerns of our apostolic office, not the least of them is care for the conditions of the dioceses throughout the world; indeed of our ultimate responsibility and right to govern them, to establish or change their boundaries; as well be, by reason of times or circumstances, to make changes conducive to the advantage of the faithful. What with the vast size of the Diocese of Baltimore, we have approved the separation of the Provinces of Carolina and Georgia taken together, in the United States, from the Diocese [of Baltimore] so that the Archbishop of Baltimore will no longer have the burden of caring for them. The Diocese shall have given its own advice and consent beforehand, so that the aforementioned provinces, separated from the Diocese of Baltimore, might be erected into a new Episcopal Suffragan See of Baltimore. We, with the agreement of His Most Reverend and Eminent Cardinal for matters of the Propagation of the Faith concerning the proposal, determine and decree that, with the aforementioned dismembration from the Baltimore Diocese, a new Church with a Bishop be erected in the City of Carolopolis, in English, Charlestown, which embraces both Carolina and Georgia. Accordingly, mindful of present circumstances and filled with apostolic enthusiasm, We erect the new Church with a Bishop, a Suffragan Church of Baltimore, with its having all the rights and privileges accorded by the sacred canons to such approved churches.

We also, in order to provide for the newly established Church and its Bishop promptly and fruitfully, a task which no one except Ourselves might or can fulfill, here done due diligence, exercising fatherly and solicitous care and deliberation concerning the appointment of a highly qualified person to be its Bishop. This included the recommendations of the Cardinals of the Propagation of the Faith. And so now We look to you [John England] born of a lawful marriage and of legal age, whose integrity of life and conduct have been examined thoroughly, and whose broad outlook on spiritualities and temporalities manifest a genuine faith. We believe that you are free from the burden of excommunications, suspensions, and interdicts, and from any sentences, censures, and penalties, either legal or manmade; and you are not weighed down by any other circumstances, causes or other matters that, brought into the open, would have an impact on your presence.

Having in hand My own approval of your person and of the qualities required, as well as that of the aforementioned Cardinals and their council, We make provisions for the new church and appoint you pastor, giving you total care of the government and administration of the Church of Charleston in its spiritualities and temporalities. Shouldering this care and administration with a ready devotion to the Lord, may you labor faithfully and wisely, and may you see the Church of Charleston be provided with and rejoice in the faithful administration I have entrusted to you. In addition to your eternal reward, may Our apostolic benediction bring you even more abundant blessings for the future.

With regard to those matters which can lead to the apt and favorable development of your congregation, We grant to you and to any Catholic Prelate of your choosing, so long as he is in good graces of and communion with the Apostolic See; and for this purpose the enlistment of two other assisting bishops; or, if after a period of four months none of these can be found, then in place of them two secular priests or two priests belonging to a religious congregation, these also in good fares and in communion with the Holy See, the faculty of consecration; and to these same Prelates, having made before you the aforesaid profession of Catholic faith, according to formulas established by the Holy See long ago, and having sworn the required oath of fidelity to Us, and the Roman Church, the faculty validly and licitly to carry and his serious duties.

We wish furthermore, and, by the same authority determine and decree, that if you were to presume to consecrate the above mentioned Prelates without having received from him the oaths and the profession of faith, by the very fact, the same Prelates will have been suspended from the exercise of his pontifical office, and you will have been suspended from control and administration of your churches, notwithstanding apostolic or in general to the contrary.

Given in Rome, at Saint Mary Major, under the seal of the Fisherman’s ring, on July 11, 1820, the 21th year of Our Pontificate.

# Cardinal Consalvi

He [John England] was born in Cork in Ireland on September 23, 1786. He died in Charleston on April 11, 1842.

From the Archdiocese of Baltimore Archives, Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary & University, found in the following collection: Archbishops’ Papers, General, Special B Collection, Roman Documents, 1783-1863, pp. 25-27.

[Translation provided by Most Rev. David B. Thompson]

We, John Murphy, by the grace of God and the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Cork in Ireland to all who are interested or who might be interested, swear that on the 21st of the month of September, namely on the Feast of the Apostle Saint Matthew, in the year of the Lord 1820, in the Church of Saint Finbar, patron of our Diocese, celebrating Pontifical Mass, consecrated John England, priest of Cork, the elected Bishop of Charleston, with the assistance of the Most Reverend and Illustrious Doctor Kyran Marum, Bishop of Ossory, and Patrick Kelly, Bishop of Richmond; and in the presence of the Most Reverend and Illustrious Doctor Patrick Everard, Archbishop of Mytilene and Coadjutor of Cashel; of William Coppinger, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross; of Charles Sugrue, Bishop of Kerry; and of Charles Tuohy, Bishop of Limerick, having received beforehand the required profession of faith and customary oath called for by the apostolic letter, in testimony of which we have signed with our own hand and have affirmed with our Episcopal seal.

From our residence in Cork, on the day and in the year given above.

+ John Murphy, Bishop of Cork