to teach French, the classics and arithmetic.Virginia Governor Patrick Henry helped Dubois learn English. For two years, Dubois mainly celebrated mass in rented rooms or at the homes of Richmond's few Catholic families. According to tradition, Alexandria, Virginia, had a log chapel with an unknown resident Catholic priest by 1776. Reverend John Thayer from Boston was stationed at the chapel in 1794. The Reverend Francis Neale erected a brick church in Alexandria in 1796 and constructed a larger one there in 1811. Fathers Anthony Kohlmann and future Bishop Bitenedict Fenwick frequently officiated in Alexandria. Around 1796, the Reverend James Bushe started building a church in Norfolk. He was succeeded there by the future Archbishop Leonard Neale. 1820 to 1850 Pope Pius VII erected the Diocese of Richmond on July 11, 1820. He removed all of Virginia (except for the two counties of the Eastern Shore region) from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Pius VII designated the new diocese as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and appointed Reverend Patrick Kelly as its first bishop. After arriving in New York in 1820, Kelly traveled to Baltimore to meet Bishop Ambrose Maréchal. Kelly wrote about to his brother about Maréchal :He did not receive me over kindly, and tried to persuade me it would be dangerous to take possession of my See; but his arguments did not satisfy me, and I arrived Norfolk on 19th January.In January 1821, Kelly took up residence in Norfolk, Virginia, which had a larger Catholic population than the episcopal see in Richmond. While bishop, Kelly opened the first Catholic school in the diocese and engaged in missionary efforts. Kelly was soon involved in disputes with Maréchal over their jurisdictions. To end the fighting, Pius VII appointed Kelly as bishop of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland in early 1822. There would be no new bishop in Richmond for the next 18 years. Pope Gregory XVI named Reverend Richard Whelan as the new bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in 1840. Since Kelly's departure, in 1822, the Diocese of Richmond had been vacant. During that period, Richmond had become a stronghold of the Know-Nothing political party, known for its anti-Catholic bigotry and violence. As the diocese only had six priests, Whelan appealed to the Societies for the Propagation of the Faith in Paris, Lyon, France, and Vienna in the Austrian Empire to recruit priests. He also