Stearne, John (1660-01-01 - 1745-06-06)

John Stearne was born in 1660 in Dublin to John Stearne (d.1669), physician and founder of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and his wife Dorothy Ryves. He entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1674 and graduated B.A. in 1678, M.A. in 1681, and D.D. in 1693. He was ordained deacon in 1682 and served as the domestic chaplain of Anthony Dopping, bishop of Meath, until he was made vicar of Trim in 1688. He was made rector of Clonmacduff, co. Meath in 1692 and of Killary, co. Meath in 1702. He was installed as chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin in 1702 and later elected dean of St. Patrick’s and prebendary of Dunlavin; he simultaneously held the deanery of St. Patrick’s and the curacy of St Nicholas Without, Dublin. In 1697, he published his “Tractatus de visitatione infirmorum”, published later in English as “The Curate’s Manual”. Stearne was consecrated bishop of Dromore in 1713 and was translated to the diocese of Clogher in 1717. A patron of the printing house at TCD, Stearne was made Vice-Chancellor of the College in 1721. He died unmarried in 1745 and was buried in Clogher.