Biography

Baptized and raised in the Protestant Episcopal Church, he was increasingly drawn to Catholicism in late 1830s. In 1842 he converted to Catholicism on a trip to Rome. On October 30, 1853 he was consecrated the first bishop of Newark and, at that time, the boundaries for the diocese encompassed the entire state of New Jersey. Bayley immediately laid out an ambitious plan that would focus on the building of churches and schools. To carry out this work, he recruited religious orders, seminarians, and priests to serve with him. Bayley was installed as the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on October 13, 1872. Bayley was an active supporter of the temperance movement, a champion of Catholic schools, and an advocate for the poor and marginalized.