Bishop William T. Russell (1917-1927)
William Thomas Russell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1863 to William and Rose Russell. He attended seminary at St. Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland, the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy, and St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained in 1889.
His first assignment was pastor of St. James Church in Hyattsville, Maryland, until 1894, when he was appointed private secretary to Cardinal James Gibbons and curate at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore. In 1908, Russell was named pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and in 1911 he was elevated to the rank of domestic prelate by Pope Pius X. Russell was appointed Charleston’s fifth bishop in 1916 and installed in 1917. Bishop Russell died in Charleston in 1927.