William Rollinson Whittingham - Career As Bishop

Career As Bishop

In 1840, Whittingham was elected bishop of Maryland, and was consecrated on September 17 of that year in St. Paul's, Baltimore. He was the 36th bishop of the ECUSA, and was consecrated by bishops Alexander Viets Griswold, Richard Channing Moore, and Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk. As bishop, he founded several charitable and educational institutions, including the College of St. James in Hagerstown, an infirmary in Baltimore, an order of deaconesses, and the Sisterhood of St. John in Washington. At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Whittingham advocated for the Union cause, which temporarily estranged him from the sympathies of many of his congregants, but his attitude then enabled him to labor more successfully for the unity of the church when the war ended.

In 1869 the Diocese of Easton was set off from Maryland, and in 1870 Reverend William Pinkney was appointed to assist Bishop Whittingham with his labors. In 1872 he represented the American church at the Lambeth conference, and subsequently he attended the meeting of Old Catholics at Bonn in a similar capacity. He wrote and edited several books, including editing the "Family Visitor" and "Children's Magazine," monthly publications, and "The Churchman," issued weekly. He was the editor of "The Parish Library of Standard Works," with an introduction and notes (13 vols., 1828 el seq.); Jahn's "Introduction to the Old Testament," with Dr. Samuel H. Turner (1827); William Palmer's "Treatise on the Church of Christ" (2 vols., 1841); the "Commonitorium" of Vincent of Larius, being a new translation with notes, etc." (1847); and "Ratramm on the Lord's Supper," with a revised translation (1848). He also contributed, with three other clergymen, to "Essays and Dissertations in Biblical Literature."

Bishop Whittingham was a high churchman, although he modified his opinions later in life. His views engaged him on several occasions in controversies with his clergy on points of church government, including his presentation in 1876 for not bringing to trial the rector of Mount Calvary for reading prayers for the dead, and the earlier contest with Reverend Dr. Joseph Trapnell, of St. Andrew's, concerning the prior right of the bishop to celebrate communion at confirmations. During the Civil War, he rebuked his clergy for omitting from the service the prayer for the President. For many years before his death, Whittingham was an invalid. His last official act was performed on November 7, 1878. At the time of his consecration he was the youngest of the American bishops: at his death he was the second-oldest, having been in office thirty-nine years. He died in Orange, New Jersey, October 17, 1879.