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THAYER, John, clergyman, born in
Boston, Massachusetts, about 1755; died in Limerick, Ireland, 5 February, 1815.
He was the minister of a Protestant church in Boston, when, in 1781, he went to
Europe, where, after visiting France, England, and Italy, he united with the
Roman Catholic church in 1783.
He studied for the priesthood in Paris,
was ordained in 1784, and returned to Boston, where he held weekly conferences
on the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, attracting crowds by his learning
and eloquence. He was sent to Kentucky in 1799, and remained there till 1803,
when he went to England and engaged in missionary work for about a year. He
spent the last years of his life in Limerick. Ireland, and devoted his time and
fortune to the welfare of the poor.
His works are "Controversy between the
Reverend John Thayer, Catholic Missionary of Boston, and the Reverend George
Leslie, Pastor of a Church in Washington, New Hampshire" (Boston. 1793), and "An
Account of the Conversion of the Reverend Mr. John Thayer, lately a Protestant
Minister at Boston in North America, who embraced the Roman Catholic Religion at
Rome, on the 25th of May, 1783, written by Himself" (5th ed., reprinted from the
London edition, Baltimore, 1788; French translation, Paris 1788; Spanish
translation, from the French, Valencia, 1788). It was also translated into
Italian. The work provoked several replies and rejoinders.
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, by John Looby Copyright © 2001
StanKlos.comTM
THAYER, John, clergyman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, about 1755; died in Limerick, Ireland, 5 February, 1815. He was the minister of a Protestant church in Boston, when, in 1781, he went to Europe, where, after visiting France, England, and Italy, he united with the Roman Catholic church in 1783 He studied for the priesthood in Paris, was ordained in 1784, and returned to Boston, where he held weekly conferences on the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, attracting crowds by his learning and eloquence. He was sent to Kentucky in 1799, and remained there till 1803, when he went to England and engaged in missionary work for about a year. He spent the last years of his life in Limerick. Ireland, and devoted his time and fortune to the welfare of the poor. His works are "Controversy between the Reverend John Thayer, Catholic Missionary of Boston, and the Reverend George Leslie, Pastor of a Church in Washington, New Hampshire" (Boston. 1793), and "An Account of the Conversion of the Reverend Mr. John Thayer, lately a Protestant Minister at Boston in North America, who embraced the Roman Catholic Religion at Rome, on the 25th of May, 1783, written by Himself" (5th ed., reprinted from the London edition, Baltimore, 1788; French translation, Paris 1788; Spanish translation, from the French, Valencia, 1788). It was also translated into Italian. The work pro-yoked several replies and rejoinders.
