Leonard Neale | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Baltimore | |
 | |
| Archdiocese | Baltimore |
| Installed | December 3, 1815 |
| Term ended | June 18, 1817 |
| Predecessor | John Carroll |
| Successor | Ambrose Maréchal |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | June 5, 1773 |
| Consecration | December 7, 1800 by John Carroll |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 15, 1746 |
| Died | June 18, 1817 (aged 70) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Buried | Georgetown Visitation Monastery |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Previous post(s) |
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| Alma mater | Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège |
Leonard Neale SJ (October 15, 1746 – June 18, 1817) was an American Catholic prelate and Jesuit who became the second Archbishop of Baltimore and the first Catholic bishop to be ordained in the United States. While president of Georgetown College, Neale became the coadjutor bishop to Bishop John Carroll and founded the Georgetown Visitation Monastery and Academy.
Neale was born in the British Province of Maryland to a prominent family that produced many Catholic leaders, including his brothers, Francis and Charles. He was educated in Europe, where he entered the Society of Jesus in 1767. Neale then volunteered to become a missionary in a Dutch colony in South America in 1779. He spent four years there, before becoming discouraged by the resistance from both the European colonists and indigenous people to his proselytism. He returned to Maryland, where he rejoined his former Jesuit colleagues from Europe at St. Thomas Manor.
In 1793, Neale was appointed pastor of Old St. Joseph's and Old St. Mary's Churches in Philadelphia. Bishop Carroll also made him vicar general for Philadelphia and the northern states. During the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, Neale established the first Catholic orphanage there to care for the many orphaned children.
Neale served as president of Georgetown College in Washington from 1799 to 1806, where his imposition of strict discipline helped cause declining student enrollment. Though he was appointed coadjutor bishop in 1795, Neale was notconsecrated until 1800. Neale supported the restoration of the Jesuits in the United States, which occurred in 1805. Neale became the Archbishop of Baltimore in 1815. He faced several conflicts with lay trustees, one resulting in a temporary schism at a parish in Charleston, South Carolina.