Bishop Choby was third Nashville bishop to die in office

Bishop Richard Pius Miles, O.P., left, the first bishop of the Diocese of Nashville, and Bishop Alphonse Smith, the sixth bishop of Nashville, both died while in office.

In the Diocese of Nashville’s 180-year history, three of its 11 bishops have died while in office: its first bishop, Bishop Richard Pius Miles, O.P., its sixth bishop, Bishop Alphonse Smith, and Bishop David Choby. 
 
Bishop Miles served as bishop of the entire state of Tennessee from September of 1838 until he died in February of 1860, establishing a formal Catholic presence in a place where largely there was none. At the time of his death at age 69, he was the oldest man in the American hierarchy, according to the book, “The Catholic Church in Tennessee,” by Diocese of Nashville historian Thomas Stritch. 
 
Bishop Miles’ death was sudden, according to Stritch, but attributed to a severe case of bronchitis. He died the day before Ash Wednesday, so there was no grand funeral planned. According to Stritch, “Miles was buried in a specially prepared brick tomb underneath the basement of the church, as near to being under the main altar as the solid brick understructure would permit.” 
 
The church was St. Mary’s of the Seven Sorrows in downtown Nashville, which Bishop Miles built to be the new cathedral of the diocese. More than 100 years later, during renovations at St. Mary’s, Bishop Miles’ body was found to be incorrupt, and was was moved and interred in a small chapel in the back of the church. 
 
The transition to a new bishop after Bishop Miles’ death was smooth, since Bishop James Whelan, O.P., had been named Coadjutor Bishop of Nashville in 1859, having the right of succession after the previous bishop’s death or resignation.  
 
Bishop Alphonse Smith, who served the diocese, at that time still the entire state of Tennessee, from March of 1924 until December of 1935, was the second bishop to die in office. Known as a “deeply religious and untiring worker,” according to Stritch, Bishop Smith built up the native clergy of the diocese, and ordained a total of 26 new priests. 
 
According to Stritch, Bishop Smith “died as he had lived. Stricken (with a heart attack) while preaching at St. Vincent’s Church in Nashville, on Dec. 16, 1935, he lived only a few hours more.” 
 
Bishop Smith had established St. Vincent de Paul Parish for the Black Catholic Community just a few years earlier, and it was one of the few Catholic churches in the state where African-American Catholics could worship in the still-segregated South. 
 
After Bishop Smith died, there was a period of about five months when the Diocese of Nashville was vacant, until Bishop William Adrian was installed in the spring of 1936. Bishop Adrian went on to become the longest-serving bishop in the history of the diocese, in office for 33 years. 
 
The next two bishops succeeding Bishop Adrian, Bishop Joseph Durick and Bishop James Neidergeses, both retired from their posts, and Bishop Edward Kmiec, Bishop Choby’s predecessor, was transferred to the Diocese of Buffalo, where he now lives in retirement.