Henry P. Northrop


Henry Pinckney Northrop was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina and Bishop of Charleston.

Biography

Henry Northrop was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Claudian Byrd and Hannah Eliza Northrop. He received his early education at Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. from 1853 to 1856. He then studied at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, from where he graduated in 1860. He attended the theological seminary for four years before continuing his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 1865.
Following his return to the United States that year, he served as a curate at the Church of the Nativity until 1866, when he returned to Charleston and became a curate at . He was a missionary in New Bern, North Carolina, assistant rector of St. John's Cathedral and pastor of Sullivan's Island, and pastor of in Charleston.
On September 16, 1881, Northrop was appointed the second Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina and Titular Bishop of Rosalia by Pope Leo XIII. He received his episcopal consecration on January 8, 1882 at the Baltimore Cathedral from Cardinal James Gibbons, with Bishops John Joseph Keane and Thomas Albert Andrew Becker serving as co-consecrators. In addition to his duties in North Carolina, he was named the fourth Bishop of Charleston on January 27, 1883. He later resigned his charge as Vicar Apostolic on February 4, 1888, while remaining Bishop of Charleston. Northrop later died at age 74.