Ben Franklin Taps John Carroll as First Bishop of Baltimore

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

Religion & Spirituality, History, Christianity, Education

4.8 • 969 Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2026

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

Benjamin Franklin and Father John Carroll, SJ became friends on an ill-fated mission to Canada in 1776 during the opening stages of the Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress sent Franklin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Samuel Chase, and Father John Carroll on a mission to try to persuade the Canadians to join in the rebellion. Franklin was already ill when the trip began, and his condition worsened. He chose to leave Canada early when it was obvious that the mission would not succeed, so Father John Carroll decided to accompany him to help nurse him on the voyage. Franklin credited Carroll's ministrations with saving his life, and he never forgot Carroll's kindness and care. Because of this friendship, when Ben Franklin was the American ambassador to France, and the Church was looking to establish a hierarchy in the new American nation, he was in a position to put in a good word for Carroll. In 1784 Carroll was named "Superior of the Missions," and then in 1789 he was named the first bishop of Baltimore. He became archbishop of Baltimore in 1808, and died in 1815

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History. If you like American Catholic History, please help others find it by sharing this episode and giving us a five-star rating wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Noel Heister Crow. And I'm Tom Crow.
0:19.7	Today we're talking about how Benjamin Franklin
0:22.6	helped us select John Carroll to be the first Catholic bishop in the United States.
0:27.8	This has been one of my favorite sort of facttoids about Catholicism in America for a long time.
0:33.7	Ben Franklin, one of the most iconic founding fathers, poor Richards Almanac, the guy with the kite and the key, the first postmaster general, signer of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Pennsylvania, inventor of bifocal lenses, Ambassador to France, the guy on the $100 bill, that Ben Franklin.
0:53.7	Yes, that Ben Franklin also helped to choose John Carroll to be the first Catholic
0:58.4	bishop for the United States of America.
1:00.8	Because, of course, he did.
1:01.9	Of course.
1:02.8	Now, keep in mind, Franklin wasn't even Christian.
1:05.8	He was deist, as were a number of the founders.
1:08.6	Right.
1:08.9	But, you know, God works through whomever he will, and in this
1:12.0	case, Franklin was the man in the right place at the right time to toss some weight behind his friend,
1:17.8	the Jesuit priest, John Carroll. Right. So let's talk about how this all happened. Sure,
1:23.3	our starting point is February of 1776. The Revolutionary War had been raging for about 10 months.
1:30.4	The shot heard round the world was fired and conquered Massachusetts in April of 1775.
1:36.7	The Continental Congress was working on the Declaration of Independence.
1:40.8	And they're also concerned about allies and trying to get the British subjects in Canada to join in the rebellion.
1:47.3	Yes, the Continental Congress decided to try to persuade Canada to join the 13 colonies in rebellion against the British crown.
1:55.0	Now, Canada, of course, was a former French colony, so they were French speaking and Catholic. So the delegation needed to speak French
2:03.8	and needed to show sympathy to Catholicism. Now, they chose a three-man commission of Benjamin Franklin,
	...

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