Francis Neale

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For the politician, see Francis Neale (MP).

The Reverend

Francis Neale

SJ

6th & 8th President of Georgetown College

In office

1809–1812

Preceded by William Matthews

Succeeded by Giovanni Antonio Grassi

In office

1808–1809
 Preceded by Robert Molyneux

Succeeded by William Matthews

Personal details

Born June 3, 1756

Port Tobacco, Colony of Maryland, British America

Died December 20, 1837 (aged 81)

St. Thomas Manor, Maryland, United States

Resting place St. Thomas Manor

• Leonard Neale (brother)

Relations
• Charles Neale (brother)

Alma mater Colleges of Bruges and Liège

Orders

Ordination April 3, 1788

Francis Ignatius Neale SJ (June 3, 1756 – December 20, 1837), also known
as Francis Xavier Neale, was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who led several
academic and religious institutions in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. He played a
substantial role in the Jesuit order's restoration in the United States.
Born to a prominent Maryland family, Neale was educated at the Colleges of Bruges
and Liège, where he was ordained a priest. When Neale returned to the United States
in 1788, he became the pastor of the church at St. Thomas Manor, where he aligned
himself with the rural clergy in opposing Bishop John Carroll's founding of Georgetown
College, believing it would draw resources away from the Jesuits' rural manors. He
would conflict with Carroll over various issues for much of his life.
In 1790, Neale oversaw the establishment of the first Catholic church in Washington,
D.C., Holy Trinity Church, of which he was pastor for 27 years. He also established
the Church of St. Mary in Alexandria, Virginia, and was its visiting pastor. Neale was
briefly the acting president of Georgetown College, and later became its president in
1809. His tenure was considered unsuccessful, as the number of students declined
dramatically due to his implementation of strict monastic discipline.
When the Jesuit order was restored in the United States in 1806, Neale joined the
Society and became the master of novices at Georgetown. He was also made treasurer
of the Jesuits' Maryland mission. He spent his later years as the spiritual director to
the nuns at the Georgetown Visitation Monastery and the pastor at St. Thomas Manor.

Contents

• 1Early life
• 2Maryland missions
• 3Establishment of Georgetown Chapel
• 4Georgetown College
• 5Involvement in the restored Jesuits
• 6Later life
• 7Notes
• 8References
o 8.1Citations
o 8.2Sources
• 9External links

Early life[edit]
Francis Ignatius Neale was born on June 3, 1756,[1] at Chandler's Hope, the Neale
family estate near Port Tobacco,[2] located in Charles County of the British Colony of
Maryland.[1] He was born into a prominent Maryland family; among his ancestors was
Captain James Neale, one of the settlers of the Maryland Colony, who arrived in 1637
upon receiving a royal grant of 2,000 acres (810 hectares) in what would become Port
Tobacco.[3]
Neale's parents, William Neale and Anne Neale (née Brooke), had thirteen children, and
all seven of the boys, including Francis, the youngest, were sent to the Colleges of St
Omer, Bruges, and Liège. Two of Francis Neale's brothers died during their studies, and
four of the surviving five became Catholic priests. One brother, Leonard, would go on to
become president of Georgetown College and the Archbishop of Baltimore, and
another, Charles, also became a prominent Jesuit.[4] One sister, Anne, entered
the Order of Poor Clares as a nun, in Aire-sur-la-Lys, France.[5] William Matthews,
Neale's nephew through his sister Mary, was another future president of Georgetown.[4]
In 1773, Pope Clement XIV ordered the worldwide suppression of the Society of
Jesus.[6] This meant Neale was unable to enter the Jesuit order as he intended,[7] but he
continued his seminary studies at the college in Liège. Following his ordination as
a priest on April 3, 1788,[8] he immediately left for the United States.[9]

Maryland missions[edit]
In 1789, John Carroll, the Bishop of Baltimore, founded the long-planned Georgetown
College in the District of Columbia, the first Catholic institution of higher education in the
United States.[10] As early as 1785, Carroll had requested that Charles Plowden return a
cohort of Maryland Jesuits studying at the college in Liège to the United States so that
they could staff the fledging college.[11] He intended Neale, in particular, to play a
significant role in the college's early years.[3] Carroll's requests went unfulfilled until
November 1788, when Neale, having completed his studies at Liège, arrived
in Baltimore. Carroll initially assigned Neale to the Jesuit estate of St. Thomas Manor,
near Port Tobacco.[3]
Neale enjoyed the rural life, and aligned with those Jesuits stationed at the Jesuits' rural
Maryland manors who opposed Carroll's establishment of a college. He frequently
expressed in correspondence with Carroll his belief that the Jesuits should direct their
efforts to ministering to rural congregations in Southern Maryland, rather than on higher
education. Neale's relationship with Carroll soured when Neale accused his superior of
giving insufficient support to the rural missions, and Carroll chastised Neale for poorly
managing his congregation's finances, such as failing to obtain orders for the new
American-printed Douay–Rheims Bible.[3] Eventually, Neale became the most outspoken
opponent of Carroll's efforts to establish Georgetown College, which he believed to be
at the expense of the Maryland Jesuits' rural manors.[12]

Establishment of Georgetown Chapel[edit]

In 1790, the governor of Maryland, Thomas Sim Lee, requested that a priest be sent to
the rapidly expanding city of Frederick. Carroll sought to transfer Neale to Frederick
from St. Thomas Manor, but Neale fell ill at about that time and was unable to
go.[13] Later that year,[14] Carroll appointed Neale as the first pastor of the yet-to-be-built
Georgetown Chapel,[a][13] reasoning that Neale's prominent ancestry and acquaintance
with many distinguished families in Georgetown would aid him in raising funds to
support the nascent church.[4] Neale did not arrive in Georgetown until January 13, 1792,
after recovering from his period of ill health.[13]

Georgetown Chapel, now adjacent to Holy Trinity Church and known as the Chapel of St. Ignatius

Neale proved to be a successful pastor of the church.[13] He succeeded in raising

considerable funds from Catholics in Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles, and St.
Mary's Counties in Maryland during the first several months of his tenure. This allowed
construction on the chapel to begin quickly, and its foundation was complete by the end
of 1792; the superstructure was completed the following year.[13] As the new church
occupied the entire width of its lot, Neale sought to protect it and its adjacent cemetery
from encroachment by purchasing land on either side as a buffer. Contributions proved
to be inadequate, and he resorted to supplementing donations with his own funds. He
would again contribute his own money fifteen years later to purchase the remainder of
the block's width, where the Holy Trinity School now stands.[17] Construction on the
Georgetown Chapel was complete by March 1794.[18]
As the first Catholic church in the District of Columbia,[15] the Georgetown Chapel drew
parishioners from as far as Dumfries and Great Falls in Virginia and Bladensburg in
Maryland.[19] The size of the congregation increased rapidly, and the church soon
became overcrowded, despite the erection of makeshift sheds on the sides of the
church to augment the size of the building.[19] In 1796, the parish established a mission
church in Alexandria, which was the first Catholic church in the state of Virginia. Neale
ministered to this church, but its location was considered too remote, so he purchased a
former Methodist meeting house more centrally located in Alexandria, and named it
the Church of St. Mary.[18]
Relations between Neale and Carroll continued to deteriorate, as Neale resisted
Carroll's attempts to sell some of the Jesuits' rural properties. In April 1797, Carroll
directed Neale to transfer from Georgetown to the Jesuit's White Marsh Manor, as had
been tentatively discussed at a previous meeting of the clergy, despite Neale's
opposition. Before this order could be given effect, several wealthy parishioners and lay
trustees of the Georgetown Chapel intervened to petition Carroll to keep Neale at
Georgetown;[20] Carroll acquiesced,[21] and Neale remained as pastor until 1817, when he
was succeeded by Benedict Joseph Fenwick.[14]
In the meantime, Neale had become a prominent member of the Select Body of Clergy
of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen of Maryland,[1] a civil corporation
beyond Carroll's authority composed of priests who had been Jesuits before the order's
suppression.[b] Neale was made the legal agent of the corporation in 1798.[23]

Georgetown College[edit]
In addition to his priestly duties at the Georgetown Chapel, Neale also worked at
Georgetown College as treasurer pro tempore, which was his sole source of income,
room and board.[13] In August 1797, a special committee of Maryland clergy was drawn
up to determine the future of the college. It resolved that the institution was to be run by
a five-member board of directors, composed of Maryland clergy who were selected from
and by their peers. The effect of this resolution was to deprive Carroll and the
incumbent Sulpician president of the college, Louis William DuBourg, of any official
control of the school. Neale was selected as one of the five directors. At the board's first
meeting in October 1797, Neale was elected vice president of the college, whose duties
largely corresponded to those of his existing role of treasurer.[21] He would hold the
position of vice president for ten years.[24]
Georgetown College campus in 1829. It would have looked much the same during Neale's presidency.[25]

When the president of Georgetown College, Robert Molyenux, was forced to resign the
presidency due to declining health in December 1808,[26] Neale was made the acting
president,[27] until a permanent successor could be found in his nephew, William
Matthews, in March 1809.[28] Following the end of Matthews' tenure, Neale succeeded
him as president on November 1, 1809.[29] He instituted the same severe monastic
discipline that his brother, Leonard, had previously implemented at the college during
his presidency. Students were required to follow a daily regimen, which heavily
focussed on religious activities. Although this resulted in a considerable number of
students entering the priesthood, it led to a significant decrease in the number of non-
Catholic students and a severe decline in the overall number of students.[30] Enrollment
was also affected by competition for students with St. Mary's Seminary and University in
Baltimore.[31] At the college, Neale established the first Sodality of the Blessed Virgin in
the United States.[32] He also purchased 40 acres (16 hectares) to expand the campus
for student recreation.[24]
Neale had little interest in managing the academic affairs of the college, and upon
assuming the presidency, transferred responsibility for the school's academics to the
vice president.[33] As he simultaneously held other pastoral and administrative positions,
he was largely absent from the college. Carroll's evaluation was that the college had
"sunk to the lowest degree of discredit."[33] Neale's tenure came to an end in August
1812, and Giovanni Antonio Grassi was named as his successor.[34]

Involvement in the restored Jesuits[edit]

Neale in his later years

In response to the request of Emperor Paul I of Russia, Pope Pius VII issued a bull in
1801 partially lifting the 1773 order of suppression by permitting the Jesuits to officially
resume operation in the Russian Empire (which they had been already doing
unofficially).[35] Bishop Carroll had long sought to restore the Jesuit order in the United
States, and aimed to do so by submitting the Maryland Jesuits to the jurisdiction of the
Jesuits' Russian province.[36] He was wary that such an arrangement would contravene
the pope's order and might draw the attention of political enemies of the Jesuits.[37] Neale
and his brother, Charles, led a group of clergy in persistently urging Carroll to effectuate
the arrangement.[38] Carroll was eventually persuaded,[38] and a Jesuit novitiate was
formally opened on October 10, 1806 in a house offered for use by Neale, across the
street from the now-Holy Trinity Church.[7]
The newly appointed superior of the Maryland Jesuits, Robert Molyneux, named Neale
as the master of novices.[39] His selection drew some criticism from the European Jesuits
sent at Carroll's request to aid the re-establishment of the Jesuits in the United States,
on the grounds that Neale had never been trained in a Jesuit novitiate,[7] and that he
would simultaneously be a novice himself.[40] As well as serving as master of novices,
Neale assumed the role of treasurer of the Jesuit's Maryland mission.[31] During the War
of 1812, Neale had most of the Jesuits' livestock in St. Inigoes removed to White Marsh,
to keep them safe from looting by the British.[41]

Later life[edit]
Upon the death of his brother Leonard in 1817, Neale assumed his duties as spiritual
director to the nuns of the Georgetown Visitation Monastery.[24] He suffered
a stroke while in Alexandria. Though this necessitated that he relinquish the full-time
position,[24] he continued to hear the nuns' confessions until his death.[42] After his
recovery, he once again took up missionary work in rural Maryland.[24] He returned to St.
Thomas Manor, where he became pastor of its church, later known as St. Ignatius
Church. He served in this office from 1819 until 1837.[43] Neale died on December 20,
1837,[1] and he was buried in the cemetery at St. Thomas Manor.[5]

Notes[edit]
1. ^ The Georgetown Chapel, later known as Holy Trinity
Church and then as the Chapel of St. Ignatius, was called a
"chapel" because it remained uncertain whether it was lawful
for Catholics to build public churches in the city.[15][16]
2. ^ The corporation was created in 1792 in response to the
suppression of the Society of Jesus. Its purpose was to
preserve the property of the former Jesuits with the hope that
the Society would be one day restored and the property
returned under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Jesuit
superior in America.[22]

References[edit]
Citations[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d St. Mary's Church and Residence 1885,
p. 108
2. ^ Chandler's Hope: Architectural Survey File 2003, pp. 2, 15
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Warner 1994, p. 18
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c Warner 1994, p. 19
 5. ^ Jump up to:a b Currier 1890, p. 53
6. ^ Griffin 1882, p. 5
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c Warner 1994, p. 98
8. ^ Downing 1912, p. 42
9. ^ Treacy 1889, p. 181
10. ^ Warner 1994, p. 15
11. ^ Warner 1994, p. 17
12. ^ Warner 1994, pp. 18–19
13. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Warner 1994, p. 20
14. ^ Jump up to:a b Gillespie, Kevin (December 6, 2015). "From
the Pastor's Desk" (PDF). Holy Trinity Catholic Church
Bulletin. Washington, D.C.: Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 16, 2018.
Retrieved January 4, 2019.
15. ^ Jump up to:a b "Old Holy Trinity Church". DC Historic
Sites. Archived from the original on May 18, 2020.
Retrieved May 18, 2020.
16. ^ "The Chapel of Saint Ignatius Loyola". Holy Trinity Catholic
Church. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014.
17. ^ Warner 1994, p. 21
18. ^ Jump up to:a b Warner 1994, p. 23
19. ^ Jump up to:a b Warner 1994, p. 25
20. ^ Warner 1994, p. 26
21. ^ Jump up to:a b Warner 1994, p. 27
22. ^ Curran 2012, pp. 14–16
23. ^ St. Mary's Church and Residence 1885, pp. 61–62
24. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Shea 1891, p. 38
25. ^ Curran 1993, p. 405
26. ^ Shea 1891, p. 35
27. ^ Curran 1993, p. 404
28. ^ Curran 1993, p. 62
29. ^ Buckley 2013, p. 101.
30. ^ Curran 1993, p. 63
31. ^ Jump up to:a b Warner 1994, p. 99
32. ^ Shea 1891, p. 39
33. ^ Jump up to:a b Curran 1993, p. 64
34. ^ Curran 1993, pp. 64–65
35. ^ Shea 1891, p. 516
36. ^ Shea 1891, p. 517
37. ^ Shea 1891, p. 522
38. ^ Jump up to:a b Warner 1994, p. 97
39. ^ Warner 1994, pp. 97–98
40. ^ Curran 1993, p. 58
41. ^ Devitt 1931, p. 217
42. ^ Currier 1890, p. 209
43. ^ "Pastors of St. Ignatius Church". St. Ignatius Church.
Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved May
18, 2020.

Sources[edit]
• Buckley, Cornelius Michael (2013). Stephen Larigaudelle Dubuisson,
S.J. (1786–1864) and the Reform of the American Jesuits. Lanham,
Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 978-
 0761862321. Archived from the original on May 18, 2020.
Retrieved May 18, 2020 – via Google Books.
• "Chandler's Hope: Architectural Survey File" (PDF). Maryland Historical
Trust. November 21, 2003. Archived (PDF) from the original on January
27, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
• Curran, Robert Emmett (1993). The Bicentennial History of
Georgetown University: From Academy to University, 1789–1889.
Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-0-
87840-485-8. Archived from the original on April 1, 2020.
Retrieved April 1, 2020 – via Google Books.
• Curran, Robert Emmett (2012). "Ambrose Maréchal, the Jesuits, and
the Demise of Ecclesial Republicanism in Maryland, 1818–
1838". Shaping American Catholicism: Maryland and New York, 1805–
1915. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. pp. 13–
158. ISBN 978-0813219677. Archived from the original on September
9, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
• Currier, Charles Warren (1890). Carmel in America: A Centennial
History of the Discalced Carmelites in the United States. Baltimore:
John Murphy & Co. OCLC 558196119 – via Internet Archive.
• Devitt, Edward I. (October 1931). "History of the Maryland-New York
Province II: St. Thomas'" (PDF). Woodstock Letters. 60 (3): 343–
372. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 1, 2020. Retrieved April
1, 2020 – via Jesuit Archives.
• Downing, Margaret Brent (1912). "The Development of the Catholic
Church in the District of Columbia from Colonial Times until the
Present". Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington,
D.C. 15: 23–53. JSTOR 40067032.
• Griffin, Martin I. J. (1882). History of "Old St. Joseph's". Philadelphia:
I.C.B.U. Journal Print. OCLC 74848131. Retrieved March 23, 2020 –
via Internet Archive.
• Shea, John Gilmary (1891). "Chapter VII: Father Francis Neale,
S.J.". Memorial of the First Century of Georgetown College, D.C.:
Comprising a History of Georgetown University. Vol. 3. Washington,
D.C.: P. F. Collier. pp. 38–40. OCLC 960066298. Archived from the
original on April 1, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2020 – via Google Books.
• "St. Mary's Church and Residence" (PDF). Woodstock Letters. XIV (1):
97–112. March 1885. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 10,
2020. Retrieved April 1, 2020 – via Jesuit Archives.
• Treacy, William P. (1889). Old Catholic Maryland and its Early Jesuit
Missionaries. Swedesboro, New Jersey. OCLC 865943551 – via
Internet Archive.
• Warner, William W. (1994). At Peace with All Their Neighbors:
Catholics and Catholicism in the National Capital, 1787–1860.
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-
1589012431. Retrieved April 1, 2020 – via Internet Archive.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Francis Neale.

• Appearance in the records of the Georgetown

Slavery Archive
 • Neale, Francis Ignatius (April 1887). "The Right of
Patronage to St. Mary's". The American Catholic
Historical Researches. 3 (4): 58–
63. JSTOR 44373536.

Catholic Church titles

1st Pastor of Holy Trinity Church Succeeded by

New office
1790–1817 Benedict Joseph Fenwick

Preceded by 11th Pastor of St. Ignatius Church Succeeded by

John B. Cary 1819–1837 William McSherry

Academic offices

Preceded by 6th President of Georgetown College Succeeded by

Robert Molyneux 1808–1809 William Matthews

Preceded by 8th President of Georgetown College Succeeded by

William Matthews 1809–1812 Giovanni Antonio Grassi

show

Presidents of Georgetown University

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