Edward Sullivan

Sullivan, Edward

Edward Sullivan, Bishop of Algoma (b in Lurgan, Ireland 18 Aug 1832; d at Toronto 6 Jan 1899). Sullivan was the son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in October 1852 and graduated with a BA in 1858. Sullivan was ordained deacon of the Church of Ireland in 1858 and priest in 1859, both in St Paul's Cathedral, London, by Benjamin CRONYN, the first bishop of Huron. After 3 years as an assistant at St George's, London, and a further 3 at St George's, Montréal, he was appointed rector of Trinity Church in Chicago. There he was regarded as one of the most outstanding of an outstanding succession of clergy.

In 1879 Sullivan returned to St George's in Montréal as rector and in 1882 was elected and consecrated as the second bishop of Algoma. The diocese, founded in 1873, consisted of a vast area in northern Ontario, much of it still undeveloped. Sullivan continued the practice of his predecessor, travelling from end to end of the diocese by the few existing railway lines or else by buggy or mission steamer. Financial problems were great. The episcopal endowment fund was minimal. Funds were needed to build churches and mission houses and to pay the clergy who would occupy them to minister to settlers and to native people. During his episcopate 2 native schools were established.

By 1892 the number of churches in the diocese of Algoma had increased to 72 and the number of mission houses to 16. The work had taken its toll of the bishop's health and in September 1892 he suffered a nervous breakdown, from which he never fully recovered. He was granted a year's leave of absence and resumed his duties in August 1893. His health continued to deteriorate and in 1896 he resigned the see. In his retirement he became rector of St James' Cathedral, Toronto, but died in 1899.