Episode 692
William Matthews (priest)
Thu, 2019-Mar-28 00:23 UTC
Length - 3:18
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Thursday, 28 March 2019 is William Matthews (priest).
William Matthews (December 16, 1770 – April 30, 1854), occasionally spelled Mathews, was an American Roman Catholic priest from Maryland who became the first ordained Catholic priest born in British America and the fifth Catholic priest in the United States. He was briefly a novice in the Society of Jesus, and through his founding of several educational institutions and parochial service, became influential in the establishment of Catholicism in Washington, D. C. He was the second pastor of St. Patrick's Church for most of his life and was the sixth President of Georgetown College, later known as Georgetown University. Matthews acted as president of the Washington Catholic Seminary, which became Gonzaga College High School, and oversaw the continuity of the school during suppression by the church and financial insecurity.
Matthews was vicar apostolic and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Philadelphia during a period of ecclesiastical turmoil. He was a co-founder and president of the Washington Library Company—the first public library in the District of Columbia—and was co-director and trustee of the District of Columbia Public Schools, where he was one of the superintendents of a school. Matthews was heavily involved in Catholic charitable organizations as well; he was the founder and president of St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum and the co-founder and president of St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum. He played a significant role in the founding of Washington Visitation Academy for girls, St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill, and the parish that now includes the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
He was born into a prominent Maryland family and became a close adviser to Archbishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States. He was also well connected with Washington's political elite, allowing him to preside over the first Catholic ceremony in the White House. For his contributions to religious and civic life, Matthews was informally known as the "patriarch of Washington".
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:23 UTC on Thursday, 28 March 2019.
For the full current version of the article, see William Matthews (priest) on Wikipedia.
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