Early life Andrew Byrne was born in 1802 in
Navan, County Meath, in Ireland, the son of Robert and Margery Moore Byrne. Baptized on December 3, 1802, he was possibly born on November 30. While studying at
St. Finian's College in Navan, Byrne was recruited in 1820 by Bishop
John England to immigrate to the United States and serve in the new
Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina.
Priesthood Byrne was ordained to the priesthood in
Charleston, South Carolina, by Bishop England for the Diocese of Charleston, on November 11, 1827. After a period of missionary work in South Carolina and
North Carolina, England appointed Byrne as pastor of
St. Mary's Parish in Charleston. Byrne was eventually named
vicar general of the diocese. At the
Second Baltimore Council in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1833, he acted as England's theologian. In 1836, Byrne was incardinated, or transferred, to the
Diocese of New York, in New York City, where he served at
St. Patrick's Parish, and
St. James's Parish, both in Manhattan. In 1841, Bishop
John Hughes sent him to Ireland to recruit the
Christian Brothers to teach in the diocesan schools. After Catholics in Manhattan purchased the former
Universalist Church known as Carroll Hall, Byrne founded
St. Andrew Parish there, which Hughes dedicated on March 19, 1842.
Bishop of Little Rock On November 28, 1843, Byrne was appointed bishop of the new Diocese of Little Rock by
Pope Gregory XVI. Byrne was consecrated in
St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on March 10, 1844, by Bishop Hughes. Four sisters and five postulants arrived in 1851 and established a school in Little Rock that would later become
Mount St. Mary Academy. The sisters also opened convent schools at Fort Smith and
Helena, Arkansas. A fire of suspicious origin destroyed the church in Helena in 1854, as the
Know Nothings’ influence in Arkansas grew. and had almost completed arrangements for the starting of a college at
Fort Smith by the
Congregation of Christian Brothers. Andrew Byrne died on June 10, 1862, in Helena at age 59. ==References==