LYNCH, JOHN JOSEPH

Missionary, archbishop; b. near Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland, Feb. 6, 1816; d. Toronto, Canada, May 12, 1888. He was educated at the Academy of St. Joseph, Clondalkin, entered the College of the Lazarists at Castleknock (1835), and was sent to France to the Seminary of Saint-Lazare, Paris (1837). After ordination at Maynooth, Ireland, June 9, 1843, he worked as a home missionary until 1847, when he was sent to the U.S. He served as president of St. Mary's of the Barrens (1847–54), a Lazarist college in Missouri, and founded the Seminary of Our Lady of the Angels at Niagara Falls,N.Y. (1856). Lynch was named coadjutor to Bp. Armand F. M. de Charbonnel of Toronto, and consecrated titular bishop of Echynos (Nov. 20, 1859). After succeeding to the See of Toronto in April 1860, he concerned himself with developing education within the diocese. At Vatican Council I (1869–70) he supported immediate definition of papal infallibility. He became the first archbishop of Toronto on March 25, 1870, receiving the pallium at Rome. Under his direction the First Provincial Council (1873) adopted the decrees of the Council of Quebec. He promoted charitable institutions and was active in securing the passage of the Separate School Bill (1863).

Bibliography: Jubilee Volume: The Archdiocese of Toronto (Toronto 1892). h. c. mackeown, The Life and Labours of Most Rev. John Joseph Lynch, D.D. Cong. Miss., First Archbishop of Toronto (Toronto 1886).

[j. t. flynn]