John Quinlan

Who was John Quinlan?

Bishop John Quinlan was a Roman Catholic bishop and the second Bishop of Mobile.

He emigrated to the United States in 1844 and was ordained to the priesthood for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cincinnati on August 30, 1852. He was named Bishop of Mobile on September 26, 1859, and consecrated on December 4, 1859, by Archbishop Antoine Blanc in St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans.

In his diocese he found twelve churches and fourteen schools for which he had only eight secular priests and he therefore brought from Ireland eleven young candidates for the priesthood. Bishop Quinlan's administration fell upon the storm days of the American Civil War. After the battle of Shiloh, he hastened on a special train to the blood-stained battle-ground and ministered to the temporal and spiritual wants of North and South.

After the war diocesan activities were crippled. Nevertheless, besides repairing ruined churches, Bishop Quinlan built the portico of the Mobile cathedral, founded St. Patrick's and St. Mary's churches in the same city, and established churches in Huntsville, Decatur, Tuscumbia, Florence, Cullman, Birmingham, Eufaula, Whistler, and Toulminville.