John Carroll (1735–1815) was the first Catholic bishop, not just
in
, but
of
the United States, for during the first eighteen years of his episcopate, his Diocese of Baltimore encompassed the entire country. Carroll was also, arguably, the greatest of American bishops, in that he created a stable structure for the Catholic Church in the new nation and defined the sensibility that has guided U.S. Catholicism ever since: loyal to Rome, committed to supporting and ennobling the American experiment in ordered liberty.