An early Jesuit missionary in Maryland ; born in Ireland, 1742; died in Maryland, 1814, or 1815. He was one of the first priests to visit the Catholics of Baltimore. This was between the years 1776 and 1784, at which latter date a resident priest, Father Charles Sewall, was appointed. The Jesuits at that time lived at Whitemarsh, about midway between Washington and Baltimore. The temporary church used by Father Ashton in Baltimore was an unfinished building, begun by an Irishman named Fotterall. It stood near the present site of Battle Monument, now the centre of civic and commercial activity. It was the first brick building in Baltimore. Finding it abandoned, some Acadian refugees occupied the upper portion which was still habitable. Father Ashton said Mass in the lower room, although the hogs which had taken possession of it had first to be driven out. The priest brought his vestments with him, a rude altar was erected. The faithful never numbered more than forty, and consisted chiefly of Acadians and a few Irish. This is the first Baltimore congregation of the Society of Jesus in 1759. He was first employed in the missions of Yorkshire, England. He must have been a man of business capacity, as at the assembly of the clergymen of Maryland and Pennsylvania, which convened at Whitemarsh, in 1784, he was unanimously elected procurator-general, whose duty it was to preside over the management of the various estates of the clergy. Subsequently in 1788, he was appointed to superintend the building of Georgetown College.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online