58 churches to serve a Catholic population of 80,000. By the time of his death in 1900, there were 92 priests, 86 churches, and 96,400 Catholics. The growth of his diocese was extensive enough that he supervised the founding of the Diocese of Manchester when it was split from the Diocese of Portland in 1885. Early into his tenure as bishop, Healy became involved in a controversy with one of his priests, Jean Ponsardin of Biddeford, Maine. Healy suspected that Ponsardin had been stealing money that the diocese gave to build a new church. After four years of construction, the building only had a basement and unfinished exterior walls. Healy refused to give Ponsardin any more money and suspended him from ministry in October 1877.Ponsardin then appealed the suspension to Rome, which created gossip among Vatican officials. Healy finally agreed to pay Ponsardin's debts on the condition that he leave the diocese. The Ponsardin matter caused such embarrassment for Healy that he submitted his resignation to Pope Leo XIII in 1878, but the pope rejected it. Healy was one of the Catholic Church's most vocal opponents of the Knights of Labor, a national labor union. He viewed the organization as a secret society and was the only Catholic bishop in America who threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who joined its ranks. However, Healy withdrew his prohibition after Leo XIII issued Rerum novarum in 1891 and endorsed the right of workers to form labor unions. Healy participated in the third Plenary Council of Baltimore from November to December 1884, and was appointed to serve on the Commission for the Catholic Missions among the Colored People and the Indians. However, he consistently refused the invitations of the Colored Catholic Congress, saying, "We are of that Church where there is neither...barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor freeman, but Christ is all and in all." Healy celebrated his silver jubilee as a bishop in June 1900 and was given the honorary title of assistant to the papal throne by Leo XIII on that occasion. Death and legacy James Healy died in Portland on August 5, 1900, at age 70. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in South Portland, Maine, where a Celtic cross honoring his Irish heritage marks his grave. Healy's papers are held by the College of the Holy Cross, the archives of the Archdiocese of Boston and the archives of the Diocese of