Anthony Caffry (died 1811), sometimes spelled Caffrey and recorded in Vatican documents as McCaffrey, was an Irish

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest who was a

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

in the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...

. He is best known for being the founder and first pastor of St. Patrick's Church, the first Catholic church in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Biography

He was born near

Newport, County Mayo Newport (), historically known as Ballyveaghan and for many years also known as Newport-Pratt, is a small town in the barony (Ireland), barony of Burrishoole, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The population was 626 in 2016. It is locat ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and entered the Dominican Order in Esker in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

in 1777. Following his ordination, Father Caffry received a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

degree from the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1794, he traveled to the United States and was charged by Bishop John Carroll with erecting the first Catholic parish in the city of Washington. Caffry's decision to undertake this project was likely influenced by Irish architect

James Hoban James Hoban (1755 – December 8, 1831) was an Irish architect, best known for designing the White House in Washington D.C. Early life and education Hoban was born to Edmond and Martha (née Beaghan) Hoban in 1755, and raised a Roman Cathol ...

, who asked Caffry to consider the Irish who worked to build the new federal capital. He first began holding services in rented spaces in the beginning of the year, but later built a modest, one-and-a-half story wood-frame church with the meager funds the parish had. The land on which it was built was purchased by Caffry on April 17, 1794, as two lots (numbers 5 and 6) on block 376 of the original plan of the District of Columbia between 9th and 10th Streets and F and G Streets. For these two lots, he paid 80 pounds to its seller, the United States government. During its establishment, he insisted that Leonard Neale, the coadjutor bishop of Baltimore, order the entire City of Washington be included within the territory of the parish. For ten years, Caffry resided as

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

of St. Patrick's in Washington. He resigned in 1804 when the parish required construction of a larger church, and was succeeded by William Matthews. He was then reassigned to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, staying only three years before returning to Ireland. In 1811, he died suddenly in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caffry, Anthony 1811 deaths Irish Dominicans 18th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests People from Newport, County Mayo Christian clergy from County Mayo