John Joseph Lynch

John Joseph Lynch C.M. (6 February 1816 – 12 May 1888) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto from 1860 to 1870 and the last Bishop as the diocese and the first Archbishop of Toronto (1870–1888).

John Lynch was born in Co. Monaghan in Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland, son of James and Anne Lynch, and was religious at a very young age. He attended Castleknock College and College of St. Lazare, Paris. After his studies, Lynch entered the church as Priest of Congregation of the Mission and preached in Blackrock, County Dublin.

He left for North America and eventually affiliated with Father Fitzgerald at New Orleans, Louisiana. Father Lynch tended to wounded and sick American soldiers of the Mexican War. He was later transferred to the College of St. Mary of the Barrens, in Perry County, Missouri. In 1849 he left for Paris, France and Rome, Italy for more religious studies. After his second round of studies, Lynch was invited back to America and helped establish a seminary in the Diocese of Buffalo in Upstate New York.

He came to Toronto as Co-adjutor Bishop and Titular Bishop of Echinus in 1859. Archbishop Lynch died in 1888 and was buried in the garden of St. Michael's Cathedral (Cemetery of Lucan) in Toronto, Ontario.

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