TIMON, John, R. C. bishop, born in Conewago, Pennsylvania, 12 February, 1797; died in Buffalo, New York, 16 April, 1867. In 1802 he removed with his family to Baltimore. He assisted his father, who was a merchant, in his business, and was engaged in trade in Baltimore, Louisville, and St. Louis till 1823, when he entered the Lazarist seminary at the Barrens near St. Louis. He was ordained a sub-deacon in 1824, and accompanied Father (afterward Archbishop) Odin in a missionary journey through Texas. He was raised to the priesthood the following year, appointed professor in the Barrens, and became a member of the Lazarist order. He also did missionary work throughout a large district, and became famous as a controversialist, sometimes meeting as many as six clergymen of other creeds in public debate. But his great achievement was establishing his order in the United States. Serious differences had arisen between Bishop Rosati and the Lazarists with regard to the tenure of property, and Father Timon showed great tact in bringing about a settlement. In 1835, at the assembly of Lazarist deputies in Paris, it was decided to erect the American mission into a province of the order, and Father Timon was elected its first visitor. He relieved the order from financial embarrassment, reduced to submission many members who had become disaffected, prevailed on others who had left the community to return, and acquired property of great value in St. Louis and other cities. In 1838, at the request of Bishop Rosati, he took charge of the missions in Texas. He offered the first mass in Galveston, and erected the first altar in Houston. In 1839 he was appointed coadjutor bishop of St. Louis, but earnestly asked the court to be allowed to decline, and the nomination was cancelled. In 1840 Texas was separated from the Mexican diocese of Monterey, and Father Timon was appointed prefect apostolic of the republic, where he took measures to secure the restoration of the church property that had been confiscated by the Mexican government. He went to Paris in 1841 on business connected with the Lazarists of the United States. His energy appeared to increase with advancing years. Seminaries were given into his charge in every part of the United States, which he supplied with professors from the members of his community. A narrative of the length of the journeys that he undertook in many western and southern states, and of the difficulties that he overcame, would seem incredible. The career of Father Timon was marked by many acts of courage as well as personal sacrifice and charity. His rescue of the Sisters of the Visitation from a flood in Kaskaskia had all the elements of romantic bravery. When he was appointed bishop of Buffalo in 1847 he showed reluctance to accept the office, but he yielded to the pressure that was brought to bear on him, and was consecrated by Bishop Hughes in the cathedral of New York on 17 October, 1847. At the beginning of his administration he was much disturbed by the action of the trustees of St. Louis's church, Buffalo, who insisted on controlling the temporalities of the parish. Bishop Timon excommunicated the trustees and laid the church under an interdict. The controversy, after being the subject of discussion in the legislature, was finally settled by the submission of the trustees in 1855. He introduced the Sisters of Charity in 1848, began St Joseph's boys' orphan asylum in 1851, and afterward the New Catholic reformatory for boys. He began the Foundling asylum in 1853, and subsequently founded the Deaf and dumb asylum, St Mary's German orphan asylum, the Providence lunatic asylum, and many other charities. Among the educational and religious institutions that he founded or aided in establishing are the Seminary at Suspension Bridge, the College and convent of the Franciscan Fathers, the College of St. Joseph, the Redemptorist convent of St. Mary, the Community of missionary Oblate Fathers, and several sisterhoods. See his life by C. E. Deuther (1868).