[1] Sullivan was the son of a Wesleyan minister and was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1832.

He attended grammar school at Clonmel in County Tipperary and went on to be educated at Trinity College, Dublin.

[2] He emigrated to Upper Canada in 1858 at which point he was ordered to the diaconate by Diocese of Huron Bishop Benjamin Cronyn.

Sullivan and his congregation raised funds to rebuild Holy Trinity in mere months.

He initially appointed priests with regional oversight to four deaneries: Muskoka, Parry Sound, Algoma, and Thunder Bay.