Howlett, William Joseph
HOWLETT, WILLIAM JOSEPH
Missionary, writer; b. Monroe County, N.Y., March 6, 1847; d. Loretto, Ky., Jan. 17, 1936. His parents, John and Ellen (Doyle) Howlett, came from Ireland to the U.S. by way of Canada. The family settled first in New York; they then moved to Michigan, and finally to Denver, Colo. In spite of his limited early education, Howlett entered St. Thomas's Seminary, Bardstown, Ky., and later continued his studies at the Sulpician seminary, Issy-sur-Seine, France, the Grand Seminary in Paris, and the University of Würzburg in Bavaria. He was ordained for the Diocese of Denver on June 11, 1876, by Cardinal Joseph H. Guibert, Archbishop of Paris. Howlett served in Denver for 36 years, first as a pioneer missionary, then as a pastor and builder of churches. During the last 23 years of his life, which he spent as chaplain at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Loretto in Loretto, Ky., he wrote works of biography and history, including an account of St. Thomas's Seminary in Bardstown and biographies of Bp. Joseph P. Macheboeuf of Denver and Charles Nerinckx, the Kentucky missionary. He published also brief lives of early Kentucky and Colorado priests and a number of historical articles.
[m. m. barrett]