John Walter Shanahan (January 3, 1846 – February 19, 1916) was an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania from 1899 until his death in 1916.

Biography

Early life

John Shanahan was born in

Silver Lake Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, to John and Margaret (née Donovan) Shanahan, who immigrated to the United States from

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He studied at

St. Charles Borromeo Seminary Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania that is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the Philadelphia region, the school ...

in Philadelphia. Shanahan was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by his brother, Bishop

Jeremiah F. Shanahan Jeremiah Francis Shanahan (July 17, 1834 – September 24, 1886) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania from 1868 until his death in1886. Biography Early life ...

, on January 2, 1869. He served as superintendent of

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

s in the archdiocese.

Bishop of Harrisburg

On January 2, 1899, Shanahan was appointed the third bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

. He received his

episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on May 1, 1899, from Archbishop Patrick Ryan, with Bishops Ignatius Horstmann and Edmond Prendergast serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

. His brother Jeremiah was the first to hold that office, serving between 1868 and his death in 1886. During his 16-year-long tenure, Shanahan erected 27 new

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

and increased the number of priests from 74 to 120. He opened an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

for girls at Sylvan Heights and a

protectory A protectory was a Roman Catholic institution for the shelter and training of the young, designed to afford neglected or abandoned children shelter, food, raiment and the rudiments of an education in religion, morals, science and manual training o ...

for boys at

Abbottstown, Pennsylvania Abbottstown is a borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,022 at the 2020 census. History Abbottstown is named for John Abbott, who founded it in 1753. The John Abbott House was added to the National Register of Historic Pla ...

, and completed construction on the Cathedral of St. Patrick in 1907. In 1907 he founded the

Sisters of Saint Casimir The Sisters of Saint Casimir are a Roman Catholic religious community of women founded in 1907 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Mother Maria Kaupas. It is dedicated to Saint Casimir, patron saint of Lithuania. Description Mother Maria, a native of L ...

. He also established the motherhouses of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood and the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, and invited to the diocese the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Joseph and the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Scranton. John Shanahan died on February 19, 1916, at age 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanahan, John W. 1846 births 1916 deaths People from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Roman Catholic bishops of Harrisburg 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States St. Charles Borromeo Seminary alumni