15 Facts About Joseph Richey

Joseph Richey was an Anglo-Irish priest of Episcopal Church in the United States.

Joseph Richey was known for his work among the African-American community of Baltimore and for his high church Anglicanism.

Joseph Richey was born in the town of Newry, County Down, in Ireland, although other sources give Belfast as his place of birth.

Joseph Richey emigrated with members of his family to the United States when he was ten years old, originally staying in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Joseph Richey obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College, where at commencement exercises he addressed his fellow students, the graduating class of 1866, on the topic of "The Vicissitudes of a Nation's Literature".

Joseph Richey was ordained as a deacon on May 23,1869, at the Church of the Transfiguration in New York by Bishop Horatio Potter and on September 17 of that year was received into the Episcopal Diocese of Albany.

Joseph Richey was ordained priest on December 18,1869, by William Croswell Doane, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, and a day later was installed as rector of the congregation that is St John's, Delhi in that diocese.

Bishop William Rollinson Whittingham, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and whose family parish Mount Calvary was, asked Joseph Richey to become rector.

Joseph Richey accepted, and thus became the seventh rector of Mount Calvary, on the condition that he should be accompanied by his friend from seminary days, the "zealous ritualist" Rev Calbraith Bourn Perry.

That same year, Joseph Richey invited the All Saints Sisters of the Poor to send members from England to help in the work of his church.

Joseph Richey reached London on the evening of September 17,1877.

Joseph Richey's body was returned to Baltimore and a burial service was held at Mount Calvary Church on October 18,1887.

The Baltimore Sun reported that a great crowd attended the service and lined the streets; Joseph Richey was buried at St John's Episcopal Cemetery, close to the grave of Mother Harriet.

Joseph Richey believed in the doctrine of the Real Presence and heard confessions, both of which were controversial in the Episcopal church at that time.

In 2004, Joseph Richey was added to the calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, with a feast day of September 23.