Biography:

Leonard Neale, S.J. (October 15, 1746 – June 18, 1817) became, in 1800, the first Roman Catholic bishop ordained in the United States who served as the second Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland. He devoted considerable time to the establishment of the Visitation Sisters, and also served as President of Georgetown College.

Leonard Neale was born near Port Tobacco, Maryland on October 15, 1746 to William and Anne (Brooke) Neale. Neale attended Bohemia Manor School near his home in Maryland. At the age of twelve he was sent to the College of Saint-Omer, in northern France, and later continued his studies in Bruges and Liège.

He became a member of the Society of Jesus, and after his ordination on June 5, 1777, he taught in colleges and officiated as pastor in different places in Europe. Father Neale was teaching in the Jesuit college of Bruges when that institution was seized by the Austrian imperial government (area of modern Belgium then called Austrian Netherlands), and along with the other Jesuits was expelled. He moved to England, where he had charge of a small congregation, but after four years he sailed in 1779 for Demerara, in British Guiana. At length his health was almost ruined by the inclemency of the climate and the severity of his labors. He left Demerara in January, 1783, and during the voyage, fell into the hands of British Royal Navy warships, which being at sea were unaware that the Treaty of Paris had ended hostilities between Britain and the American colonies. He arrived in Maryland in April, associating himself with his Jesuit brethren, among them the Rev. John Carroll.

In June 1783, he attended a meeting of the Roman Catholic clergy of Maryland at Whitemarsh (northeast of Baltimore Town) and took an active part in its deliberations. He was stationed at St. Thomas Manor among his relatives until 1793. He then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and tended to victims of a yellow fever epidemic, even though his own health was in a delicate state. He became pastor of St. Mary's in Philadelphia. Vigilant in his attentions to the sick and dying, on the reappearance of yellow-fever in 1797 and 1798 he resumed his former exertions until he was stricken by the disease. While he was in Philadelphia Bishop Carroll appointed him vicar-general for Pennsylvania and the other northern states.

Neale succeeded Archbishop Carroll as the second archbishop of Baltimore on December 3, 1815 and served until his death on June 18, 1817. As Archbishop, he presided over his pro-cathedral of St. Peter's. He appointed French priest Joseph Clorivière to serve at St. Mary's Church. This decision wasn't welcomed by the Irishman John O'Raw and his nominee was met with the Charleston schism (1815–1819).

His other brother, Charles Neale (died 1823), was the leader of the Jesuit Mission in America by the time he died.