Irish-born Father John Barry was elected diocesan administrator on Bishop Gartland’s death in 1854 and governed the diocese in that capacity for three years, before Pope Pius IX appointed him second Bishop of Savannah on January 9, 1857. He was consecrated on August 2 of that year. Faced with a clergy diminished by the yellow fever epidemic and with a depleted treasury, Bishop Barry sailed for Europe, seeking funds and priests for the diocese. Apparently ill before he left, he died in Paris in November 1859. He was 69 years old.