McIlvaine, Charles Pettit

(Jan. 18, 1799-Mar. 13, 1873). Bishop and foremost leader of the evangelical party in the Episcopal Church during the mid-nineteenth century. He was born in Burlington, New Jersey. McIlvaine graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1816 and studied theology at Princeton Seminary privately between 1816 and 1820. After being ordained deacon on June 18, 1820, he served as rector of Christ Church, Georgetown in the District of Columbia until 1824. He was ordained priest on Mar. 20, 1821, and was appointed chaplain of the Military Academy at West Point, where he helped spark a dramatic religious revival among the cadets. He later served as rector of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, New York, from 1827 until his election as Bishop of Ohio. He was consecrated on Oct. 31, 1832. McIlvaine was a staunch advocate of evangelical theological principles. His Oxford Divinity (1841) condemned Tractarianism as unscriptural and contrary to the Protestant roots of Anglicanism. During the Civil War, McIlvaine won political acclaim for his service as a special emissary of the Union government in England. He died in Florence, Italy.