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Jeremiah Joseph O'Connell
O'CONNELL, Jeremiah Joseph, clergyman, born in County
Cork, Ireland, 21 November, 1821. After studying in Cork he entered the Seminary
of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1840. He was ordained priest in 1844,
stationed in Savannah, and afterward transferred to Beaufort, and then to
Columbia, South Carolina His mission embraced half the state.
In 1857 he erected St. Mary's college and obtained a
charter for it, and it flourished many years until it was destroyed in the
burning of Columbia in 1865. He lectured throughout the state during his
pastorate of twenty-three years, and received more than 300 converts into his
church, acting at the same time as president of St. Mary's college.
In 1858 he began to organize missions in the interior of
the state, beginning with Anderson, where he built a church and parsonage and
opened a school. He established a temperance society and wrought a change for
the better in the habits of the rougher elements among his people. In 1871 his
health failed, and he was transferred to the missions in western North Carolina.
In 1872 he purchased a large estate between Charlotte
and Dallas and conveyed it to Bishop (now Cardinal) Gibbons, for the
establishment of a religious and educational institution and he was instrumental
in founding the Benedictine monastery and College of St. Mary of Help. Father
O'Connell is a member of the Benedictine order, he is the author of “Catholicity
in the Carolinas and Georgia, Leaves of its History” (New York, 1878).
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, by John Looby Copyright © 2001
StanKlos.comTM
O'CONNELI, Jeremiah Joseph, clergyman, born in County Cork, Ireland, 21 November, 1821. After studying in Cork he entered the Seminary of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1840. He was ordained priest in 1844, stationed in Savannah, and afterward transferred to Beaufort, and then to Columbia, South Carolina His mission embraced half the state. In 1857 he erected St. Mary's college and obtained a charter for it, and it flourished many years until it was destroyed in the burning of Columbia in 1865. He lectured throughout the state during Ms pastorate of twenty-three years, and received more than 300 converts into his church, acting at the same time as president of St. Mary's college. In 1858 he began to organize missions in the interior of the state, beginning with Anderson, where he built a church and parsonage and opened a school. He established a temperance society and wrought a change for the better in the habits of the rougher elements among his people. In 1871 his health failed, and he was transferred to the missions in western North Carolina. In 1872 he purchased a large estate between Charlotte and Dallas and conveyed it to Bishop (now Cardinal) Gibbons, for the establishment of a religious and educational institution and he was instrumental in founding the Benedictine monastery and College of St. Mary of Help. Father O'Connell is a member of the Benedictine order, he is the author of Catholicity in the Carolinas and Georgia, Leaves of its History " (New York, 1878).
