"Sherwood Healy" (Janary 24 1836- October 21 1875)

Roman catholic priest and educator,was born to Mary Eliza Clark, a

slave and Michael Morris Healy,an immigrant from Ireland and a Georgia plantation owner. In 1829, Michael and Eliza entered in to an unconventional union, a de facto marriage that was not recognized by law since it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry.Among their children was Alexander Sherwood,the fourth of ten children born to them on the Healy plantation near Macon,Georgia. Legally,Sherwood and all of the Healy children were born into slavery,though their father never intended for them to remain on the plantation.Instead,he sought out possibilities for them in the North where they could be educated and escape from their status as slaves.At the age of eight,Sherwood arrived in Worcester,Massachusetts,to enter the grammar school of Holy Cross College.After his departure to the North,he would never again return to his childhood home of Georgia.At Holy Cross, it was expected that all students would participate in religious activities,and in November 1844 he and three of his brothers were baptized by a priest at the college.They took their new faith seriously,gaining a sense of identity from their religious practice.Despite excelling as a student,Sherwood did not graduate from Holy Cross;instead, he moved to New York in 1850 to join his his brother Hugh,who as seeking a career in business.After working as a warehouse clerk, he decide to follow his older brothers James Augustine Healy and Patrick Francis Healy,who were studying to be Roman Catholic Priests.In this time,five of the Healy children entered the priesthood or religious life.James, the eldest, was the first African-American to be ordained for service by the Catholic Church,and he became bishop of the Diocese of Portland, Maine.Patrick joined the Society of Jesus (the jesuits0 and became the president of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. two Healy daughters Josephine and Eliza Healy,entered religious communities for women. At the age of sixteen,in 1852 he began studies for the priesthood at Sulpician Seminary in Montreal Canada.Her later transferred to the Sulpician Seminary in Paris and finally to Appolonia College,a more prestigious school in Rome. He was ordained on December 15 1858 in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris,the second African-American to be ordained as a Catholic Priest.Recognized for his intellectual capabilities,he was invited to pursue graduate studies and went on to earn a doctor of divinity degree from Appolonia.He subsequently transferred to the Lateran University in Rome where he studied church law,achieving a doctorate in that discipline in 1860.At the conclusion of his time in Rome,Sherwood superior,Bishop John Bernard Fitzpatrick,recognizing his talent,suggested his name as a candidate to lead the North American College,then being founded in Rome as the preeminent seminary for the training of American clergy.Sherwood,was not was not aware that he was being considered as a candidate for the position.When the decision was made it was clear that he was passed over because of his race;John confided to another bishop that Sherwood's color showed "distinctly in his exterior" and worried he would not be respected by the seminarians he was to have authority over.He returned to America in 1860 and became chaplain of a large orphanage near Boston,the House of the Angel Guardian. As his appointment was not demanding,he was free to pursue other priestly activities at the prompting of his bishop.Because of his musical training,he was called upon to sing at special liturgical services.Sherwood also served as acting chancellor of the diocese when his brother James was away in Europe.Primed for a life in education and administration,Sherwood became professor of moral theology,sacred music,and liturgy in 1864 at St.Joseph's Seminary in Troy,New York,a newly opened regional seminary for the training of clergy.During his years at the seminary,he had become the trusted advisor, of John successor,John J.Williams.Sherwood traveled with John Williams to the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866) and the First Vatican Council in Rome (1869-1870) as the Bishop's personal theologian.Through he lived in tumultuous times, Sherwood showed little interest in discussions of slavery,the Civil War,or the plight of African Americans in the Reconstruction South.In the midst of the American bishops'discussion over attempts to evangelize freed slaves, he was silent.Though most of the Healy children had light skin which was the one who most clearly looked African American.Despite this, he seemed to ignore his own racial heritage,likely seeing it as a liabilty in his ministry as a priest.As he was leaving Rome at the conclusion of the First Vatican Council,his health deteriorated signifficanyly.Upon his return to Boston,he was diagnosed with tyhus fever.Confined to his bed and unconscious for hours at a time,last rites were administered to him and he prepared himself for dealth.He slowly recovered from hisaliment, and by the fall of 1870 he was well enough to accept an appointment as rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston.As rector,Sherwood supervised the construction of the cathedral in Boston's South End.He served with distinction for five years before taking up an assignment as pastor of St.James Church in Boston,one of the largest parishesin the city and a recognized stepping-stone to the episcopacy.His brother,James,had left the pastorate of St.James Church to become bishop of Portland,Maine.His service there,lasted only a few months as he died of unknown causes just short of his fortieth birthday.