William O'Hara (April 14, 1816 – February 3, 1899) was an Irish-born American prelate of the

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 was the first bishop of the

Diocese of Scranton The Diocese of Scranton is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church. It is a suffragan see of Archdiocese of Philadelphia, established on March 3, 1868. The seat of the bishop is St. Peter's Cathedral in th ...

in Pennsylvania, serving from 1868 until his death in 1899. He founded St. Thomas College in 1888.

Biography

Early life and education

William O'Hara was born April 14, 1816, in Dungiven, County Londonderry, in Ireland, to Thomas and Mary Louisa (née Miller) O'Hara. His mother was a member of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

but converted to Catholicism soon after marriage. The family moved to the United States in 1820, settling in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. O'Hara received his early education in that city and later attended

Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1834, having decided to become a priest, O’Hara applied to Bishop

Francis Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and the sixth Archbishop of the Archdiocese o ...

for acceptance as a seminarian for the

Diocese of Philadelphia The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well as ...

. Kenrick sent him to the Urban College of the Propaganda in Rome, where he completed his philosophical and theological studies. While there, O’Hara befriended fellow seminarian

James Andrew Corcoran James Andrew Corcoran (March 31, 1820 in Charleston, South Carolina – July 16, 1889 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was the editor of the ''United States Catholic Miscellany'', the first distinctively Catholic literary periodical published in t ...

, who would become a prominent theologian.

Priesthood

O'Hara was ordained to the priesthood on December 21, 1842 by Cardinal

Giacomo Filippo Fransoni Giacomo Filippo Fransoni (10 December 1775 – 20 April 1856) was an Italian prelate and cardinal who served from 1834 to 1856 as prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He was the cardinal priest of the Church of Sa ...

at the

Lateran Basilica The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...

. Upon his return to Philadelphia in February 1843, he was first appointed assistant pastor of St. Patrick's Parish . He held that position for thirteen years (1843-1856), during which time he was sometimes assigned to help at other parishes in Philadelphia and around the state (including

Chambersburg Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Mas ...

and Honesdale). In addition to his pastoral duties, O’Hara was named rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1853 by Bishop

John Neumann John Nepomucene Neumann (german: link=no, Johann Nepomuk Neumann, cs, Jan Nepomucký Neumann; March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860) was a Catholic priest from Bohemia. He immigrated to the United States in 1836, where he was ordained, joined t ...

. He also filled the chair of

moral theology Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...

at the seminary. Bishop Neumann increased the heavy workload of the rector-professor-assistant in 1856, when he promoted O’Hara to full pastor of St. Patrick's Parish. During his time as pastor, he enlarged the church, built a new rectory, renovated the parochial school, and brought in the

Sisters of St. Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for S ...

and the Christian Brothers to staff the school. After he left Philadelphia, O’Hara would return to St. Patrick's to celebrate Mass on

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

for many years. O’Hara was named

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop' ...

of the diocese in 1860 by Bishop James Wood, leaving the seminary but remaining at St. Patrick's Church. In 1866 he served as an official at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore.

Bishop of Scranton

On March 3, 1868, O'Hara was appointed the first Bishop of Scranton by Pope Pius IX. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on July 12, 1868, from Bishop Wood, with Bishops William Elder and Patrick Lynch serving as co-consecrators, at the

Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul The Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul is the main church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Faisalabad, 250 kilometers south of Islamabad, Pakistan. The cathedral has played a significant role in promoting harmony and understanding between the nat ...

in Philadelphia. The diocese had been separated from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It consisted of ten counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania. When O'Hara became bishop, the diocese had a Catholic population of 25,000 with 47 churches, 25 priests, and two parochial schools with four students. By the time of O'Hara's death 31 years later, there were 125,000 Catholics, 78 churches, 130 priests, and 40 parochial schools with 12,000 students. In 1888 he founded St. Thomas College for Young Men. Early in his tenure, O'Hara attended the First Vatican Council in Rome(1869-1870), where he voted in favor of

papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...

. He spent a decade in court after a priest sued the bishop for removing him from his position as pastor of the Church of the Annunciation Parish in Williamsport, but the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

ruled in O'Hara's favor in 1881. He ordained

Francis Hodur Bishop Franciszek "Francis" Hodur (1 April 1866 – 16 February 1953) was the founder and first Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC). Ordained by the Roman Catholic church in 1893, Hodur served two parishes in the Scranton ...

, a Polish priest who would later break with the Catholic Church under O'Hara's successor and establish the Polish National Catholic Church. O'Hara recognized the golden jubilee of his priestly ordination in 1892 and the silver jubilee of his episcopal consecration the following year. Given his advanced age, he requested a

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

to assist and eventually succeed him, and he received

Michael John Hoban Michael John Hoban (June 6, 1853 – November 13, 1926) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania from 1899 until his death in 1926. While Hoban was coadjutor bishop o ...

in 1896. William O'Hara died in Scranton on February 3, 1899, at age 82. At the time of his death, he was the oldest Catholic bishop in the United States. He was buried under the main altar of St. Peter's Cathedral before being exhumed and reinterred at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohara, William 1816 births 1899 deaths University of Scranton Georgetown University alumni People from County Londonderry 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman Catholic bishops in Pennsylvania Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) University and college founders