Alfred Allen Paul Curtis

The Most Reverend Alfred Allen Paul Curtis
Bishop of Wilmington

See	Bishop of Wilmington
Installed	November 25, 1886
Term ended	May 23, 1896
Predecessor	Thomas Becker
Successor	John Monaghan
Other posts	Titular Bishop of Echinus (1896-1908) Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore (1897-1908)
Orders
Ordination	December 19, 1874
Consecration	November 14, 1886
Personal details
Born	(1831-07-04)July 4, 1831 Rehobeth, Maryland
Died	July 11, 1908(1908-07-11) (aged 77) Baltimore, Maryland
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church

Alfred Allen Paul Curtis (July 4, 1831 – July 11, 1908) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wilmington (1886–1896) and Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore (1897–1908). He had previously served as a member of the Episcopal clergy before converting to Catholicism.

Biography

Alfred Curtis was born near Rehobeth in Somerset County, Maryland, to Episcopalian parents.^[1] He attended the country school his father had founded, but taught himself Latin, Greek, and Shakespeare.^[2] Following his father's death in 1849, he became an assistant teacher at an academy in Princess Anne to support his mother and siblings.^[2] He began studying for the ministry in 1855, and was ordained a deacon in 1856 and afterwards a priest in 1859.^[2] He then worked as an assistant at St. Luke's Church in Baltimore, from where he was transferred to Frederick County and then to Chestertown, Kent County.^[2]

In 1862 he was elected rector of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore.^[2] He gradually became more Catholic in his beliefs and practices, to the dismay of Bishop William Rollinson Whittingham.^[2] He eventually resigned as rector in 1871 and then went to England, where he was received into the Catholic Church by Dr. John Henry Newman on May 18, 1872.^[1]^[3] Curtis returned to Baltimore later that year, entering St. Mary's Seminary.^[1] He was ordained a Catholic priest by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley on December 19, 1874.^[3] He then served as Archbishop Bayley's private secretary and an assistant at the Cathedral of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.^[2]

On August 3, 1886, Curtis was appointed the second Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware, by Pope Leo XIII.^[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following November 14 from Cardinal James Gibbons, with Bishops John Moore and John Joseph Kain serving as co-consecrators, in Baltimore.^[3] He was installed at St. Peter's Cathedral in Wilmington on November 21, 1886.^[3] During his tenure, he introduced the Josephite Fathers into the diocese to minister to African American Catholics, for whom he also built St. Joseph Church, an orphanage, and a parochial school.^[4] He also erected a cloistered convent for the Visitation Nuns.^[1]

After ten years as bishop, Curtis resigned due to poor health on May 23, 1896; he was appointed Titular Bishop of Echinus on the same date.^[3] He left the diocese with 25,000 Catholics, thirty priests, twenty-two churches and eighteen missions, twelve seminarians, eight religious communities, three academies, nine parochial schools, and three orphanages.^[4] He became an auxiliary bishop of Baltimore in 1897, and assisted Cardinal Gibbons with performing ordinations and confirmations.^[2] He later died from cancer at St. Agnes Hospital, aged 77.^[2] At his own request, his remains were buried at Visitation Monastery in Wilmington.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 5 "Diocese of Wilmington". Catholic Encyclopedia.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Sisters of the Visitation of Wilmington (1913). The Life and Characteristics of Right Reverend Alfred A. Curtis, D.D. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bishop Alfred Allen Paul Curtis". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
1 2 "A Brief History of the Diocese of Wilmington". Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Thomas Albert Andrew Becker	Bishop of Wilmington 1886—1896	Succeeded by John James Joseph Monaghan

Diocese of Wilmington

Bishops	Thomas Albert Andrew Becker Alfred Allen Paul Curtis John James Joseph Monaghan Edmond John Fitzmaurice Michael William Hyle Thomas Mardaga Robert Edward Mulvee Michael Angelo Saltarelli William Francis Malooly

Coadjutor bishop	Hubert James Cartwright

Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of St. Peter Parishes St. Joseph's Church, Greenville, DE St. John the Baptist Church, Newark, DE St. Joseph's Church, Middletown, DE St. Peter's Church, Queenstown, MD St. Francis Xavier Church, Warwick, MD Resurrection Church, Wilmington, DE St. Anthony's Church, Wilmington, DE St. Catherine of Siena Church, Wilmington, DE St. Hedwig's Church, Wilmington, DE St. Joseph's Church, Wilmington, DE St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church, Wilmington, DE St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Wilmington, DE

Education	High Schools Archmere Academy, Claymont, DE Padua Academy, Wilmington, DE Saints Peter and Paul High School, Easton, MD St. Elizabeth High School, Wilmington, DE St. Mark's High School, Wilmington, DE St. Thomas More Preparatory, Magnolia, DE Salesianum School, Wilmington, DE Ursuline Academy, Wilmington, DE Primary Schools Mount Aviat Academy, Childs, MD St. Edmond's Academy, Wilmington, DE Former College St. Mary's College

Priests	John Barres Benjamin Joseph Keiley

Catholicism portal

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 78324032 LCCN: no00047839

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Alfred Allen Paul Curtis

Biography

See also

References

External links

Episcopal succession