James Whitfield, PSS (November 3, 1770 – October 19, 1834) was an English-born Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1828 until his death in 1834.

A businessman from a wealthy English family, Whitfield enter a Catholic seminary in France as an adult in the early 1800s and was ordained a priest in the Sulpician Order in 1809.

[1] In Lyon, Whitfield met Reverend Ambrose Maréchal, a French priest with the Sulpician Order who was teaching at their seminary in the city.

[2] Inspired by Maréchal to enter the priesthood, Whitfield started studying theology at the seminary, where he was considered an outstand student.

In addition to his duties as archbishop, the Vatican appointed Whitfield as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Richmond, holding that post from 1828 to 1834.

[4] Also in 1828, Whitfield laid the cornerstone of a building to house the St. Mary's Catholic Female Orphan Asylum in Baltimore.

[1] He supported and authorized the foundation in the archdiocese of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a religious community of African-American women.

[2]At one point, a community of Carmelite sisters in Port Tobacco, Maryland, were experiencing great financial difficulties.

[7] In 1833, Whitfield laid the cornerstone for St. James the Less Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore, which he paid for at his own expense.

On March 4, 1834, Pope Gregory XVI appointed Reverend Samuel Eccleston as coadjutor archbishop of Baltimore.