Early life James Whelan was born in
Kilkenny,
Ireland on December 8, 1823. He family immigrated to the United States when he was age 10 or 12, settling in
New York. He joined the Dominican Order in 1839 at the
novitiate in Springfield, Kentucky, and made his
profession in 1842. He studied
philosophy and
theology at the Dominican
convent at
Somerset,
Ohio.
Priesthood Whelan was
ordained a priest in Somerset for the Dominican Order by Bishop
John Purcell on August 2, 1846. The Dominicans assigned Whelan to missionary work until 1852, when he was appointed
president of St. Joseph's College in Somerset. In 1854, Whelan ecame
provincial superior of St. Joseph's Province (which included all the United States except the
Pacific Coast). Whelan enlarged the
cathedral and established a
boarding school, and an
orphanage. While passing through the front line after a visit with Bishop
Martin Spalding in Louisville, Whelan was accused of making remarks within
Union lines which the
Confederates thought had influenced the movements of the
Union Army.
Resignation and legacy The suspicions of his political loyalties coupled with the stresses of being bishop prompted Whelan to submit his resignation as bishop of Nashville to the Vatican. On September 23, 1863, Pius IX accepted his resignation and on February 12, 1864, appointed him as Titular Bishop of
Diocletianopolis in Palaestina. Whelan briefly retired to St. Joseph's Convent before taking up residence at St. Thomas Parish in
Zanesville, Ohio. He devoted his time to theological, historical, and chemical studies, and published a defense of
papal infallibility in 1871. James Whelan died on February 18, 1878, at age 54, in Zanesville. ==References==