Purcell, John

Purcell, John (Baptist)

(1800–83) Catholic prelate; born in Mallow, Ireland. As bishop (from 1833) and archbishop (from 1850) of Cincinnati, he presided over a period of tremendous growth. A temperance advocate and opponent of ethnic parishes, he resigned because of an 1879 diocesan financial scandal, in which he, however, was not implicated.