Francis Neale

Father Francis Ignatius Neale, S.J., (died 1837) was an American Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order who became President of Georgetown College on two occasions and who was a leader of the Jesuit Mission in America. He was born in the Catholic colony of Maryland to a prominent family, descended from Captain James Neale, who had settled in the colony in 1642 with a royal grant of land of two thousand acres. The family traced its origins to the noble O'Neill family of Ireland, from whom came the kings of Ulster. Among his direct descendants were Oswald Neale (grandfather to Francis) and his brother, Father Bennett Neale, S.J., one of the first Jesuits in the English colony.

Francis' siblings included Father William Chandler Neale, S.J., (1743–1799) who left America to enter the Jesuit order in Flanders and spent his life ministering to the Catholics of England, where he died. The next two brothers also took this step, but both died before they were able to complete their training. Francis was among the youngest three sons, all of whom also became Jesuit priests. They were the Most Reverend Leonard Neale, S.J., who also served as president of Georgetown and later became the Archbishop of Baltimore, and Father Charles Neale, S.J., who served repeatedly as Superior of the Jesuits in America One sister, Anne, became a nun of the Order of Poor Clares in France. The other children of the family included another sister, Eleanor, who married a John Holmes, and a brother Ralph, who was the only son to marry.

He followed his brothers to Flanders, where he enrolled at St. Omer's College, intending to enter the Jesuits. In 1773, however, before he could do so, the Pope ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus. Remaining in Europe, he continued his seminary studies in Liège and was ordained there. He returned to the United States in November 1788, to the high expectations of John Carroll, the newly consecrated bishop of the new nation. Neale was initially assigned to St. Thomas Manor in St. Mary's County, the estate which served the former Jesuits as a center of worship and operations near Port Tobacco.

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