Lawrence Scanlan
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Lawrence Scanlan (September 28, 1843 – May 10, 1915) 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 ...
. A missionary and pioneer bishop, he served as the first Bishop of Salt Lake from 1891 until his death in 1915.


Early life

Scanlan was born on September 28, 1843 in Ballytarsna,
County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
, near Cashel, to Patrick and Catherine (née Ryan) Scanlan. He received his early education at a private school in Cashel conducted by a Mr. Delahunt and at St. Patrick's College in
Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...
. In 1863, Scanlan entered All Hallows College in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, which had been founded 20 years earlier to train missionaries for English-speaking countries. He studied for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, possibly inspired by the example of Eugene O'Connell, an All Hallows professor who had been recruited by Archbishop
Joseph Sadoc Alemany Joseph Sadoc Alemany y Conill, O.P. (Spanish: José Sadoc Alemany y Conill; July 3, 1814 – April 14, 1888) was a Spanish Catholic clergyman, who served most of his career in California. He served as the first Bishop of Monterey (1850–53) a ...
in 1850 and made Vicar Apostolic of Marysville in 1860.


Priesthood

While in Dublin, Scanlan was ordained to the priesthood on June 28, 1868 by Bishop John Francis Whelan, a
Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...
missionary and the Vicar Apostolic of Bombay. Following his ordination, the young priest returned home and celebrated his first
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
at the parish church in Moyne. He departed Ireland in July 1868, eventually arriving at
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in November. Scanlan's first assignment was as an assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Church (1868-70), first at the original structure on
Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...
and then at the new church on
Mission Street Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in Daly City and San Francisco, California that runs from Daly City's southern border to San Francisco's northeast waterfront. The street and San Francisco's Mission District through which it r ...
. He served for a few months at St. Mary's Cathedral before being loaned to his countryman Bishop Eugene O'Connell and given his own parish, Holy Rosary Church in
Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
. Following the opening of silver mines in
Pioche Pioche is an unincorporated town in Lincoln County, Nevada, United States, approximately northeast of Las Vegas. U.S. Route 93 is the main route to Pioche and bypasses the town center just to the east, with Nevada State Route 321 and Nevad ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, a petition for a Catholic priest was sent to Bishop O'Connell and he appointed Scanlan as pastor there in 1871. During his two years in Pioche, he built a church (naming it St. Laurence) as well as a hospital where the miners could receive medical attention. In early 1873, he briefly returned to California to serve as pastor of St. Vincent's Church in
Petaluma Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village nam ...
, where one of his parishioners was the grandfather of Scanlan's future successor
William Weigand William Keith Weigand (born May 23, 1937) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento in California from 1993 to 2008. Weigand previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lak ...
. Scanlan remained at Petaluma until the summer of 1873, when Archbishop Alemany appointed him to missionary work in the
Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. ...
, which had been entrusted to the Archdiocese of San Francisco two years earlier. He arrived at
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
in August 1873, marking the beginning of his 42-year career in Utah. He found himself in charge of the largest parish in the United States, covering nearly 85,000 square miles and including only one church to serve a total of 800 Catholics. Under Scanlan, the Catholic Church in Utah began to take root. He worked as a circuit rider, visiting the Catholics scattered throughout the territory and establishing churches where he went. In 1875, he invited the
Sisters of the Holy Cross The Sisters of the Holy Cross (CSC) are one of three Catholic congregations of religious sisters which trace their origins to the foundation of the Congregation of Holy Cross by the Blessed Basil Anthony Moreau, CSC, at Le Mans, France in 1837. ...
to Utah, where they founded St. Mary's Academy and Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City the same year they arrived. In 1878, Scanlan was named
vicar forane A dean, in an ecclesiastical context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and many Lutheran denominations. A dean's assist ...
by Archbishop Alemany, making him the superior of all Catholic priests in Utah (six at that time). In September 1886, Scanlan opened All Hallows College (named after his alma mater in Ireland) at Salt Lake City, serving on the original faculty and even residing at the college from 1887 to 1889. He turned the college's management over to the
Marist Fathers The Society of Mary ( la, Societas Mariae) abbreviated SM, commonly known as the Marist Fathers, is a men's Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right. It was founded by Jean-Claude Colin and a group of seminarians in ...
in 1889 and they operated All Hallows until it closed in 1918.


Relationship with Mormons

As a Catholic missionary in the stronghold of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church), Scanlan maintained a cordial relationship with the Mormon community. In 1879, he was invited by
John Menzies Macfarlane John Menzies Macfarlane (October 11, 1833 – June 4, 1892) was a Scottish-born Latter-day Saint hymnwriter, choir director and civic leader who spent most of his life in Utah Territory. Life Macfarlane was born in Stirling, Scotland. He came to ...
to use St. George Tabernacle to celebrate Mass, which he did on May 25 that year with music sung by the tabernacle choir. In April 1885, the ''
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'' praised Scanlan for refusing to sign a petition to President
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
calling for restrictions on the LDS Church. While he opposed
polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
, Scanlan refrained from being outspoken about his opposition and told Walter McDonald that polygamy was "not a whit worse—but better, if anything" than the private lives of some of its critics.


Episcopal career

By 1886, the growth of Catholicism in Utah was sufficient enough to lead
Patrick William Riordan Patrick William Riordan (August 27, 1841 – December 27, 1914) was a Canadian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of San Francisco from 1884 until his death in 1914. He served during the 1906 San Francisco e ...
, Alemany's successor as Archbishop of San Francisco, to request that the Vatican erect an apostolic vicariate, essentially a provisional diocese with its own bishop. With the approval of
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 ...
, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith established a vicariate to cover the entire territory of Utah and parts of eastern Nevada. On January 25, 1887, Scanlan was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Utah and
titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of Laranda. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Archbishop Riordan, with Bishops Eugene O'Connell and Patrick Manogue serving as co-consecrators, at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. Four years later, the vicariate was elevated to the Diocese of Salt Lake and Scanlan was named its first bishop on January 30, 1891. Having outgrown the original church at Salt Lake City, Scanlan purchased land for a cathedral in 1890. Construction began in 1900 and finished in 1909, with Cardinal
James Gibbons James Cardinal Gibbons (July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Apostolic Vicar of North Carolina from 1868 to 1872, Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as ninth ...
dedicating the new Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene on August 15 that year. The cathedral was the crowning work of Scanlan's tenure, which began with one church and 800 Catholics in 1873 and ended in 1915 with 27 priests, 24 churches, four parochial schools, two hospitals, one orphanage, one boys' college, two girls' academies, and a Catholic population of 13,000.


Later life and death

By 1912, Scanlan was suffering from
rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...
, spending an increasing amount of time at a sanitarium in
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, while his
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's ...
was nearly blind. Following a visit from New York's Cardinal John Farley to Salt Lake City in October that year, Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco received a report from
Giovanni Bonzano Giovanni Vincenzo Cardinal Bonzano PIME (27 September 1867 – 26 November 1927) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Nunciature of the Holy See in Washington DC, Apostolic Delegate to Uni ...
, the U.S. Apostolic Delegate, that said the Diocese of Salt Lake had fallen into decline. Riordan asked former U.S. Senator
Thomas Kearns Thomas Kearns (April 11, 1862 – October 18, 1918) was an American mining, banking, railroad, and newspaper magnate. He was a US Senator from Utah from 1901 to 1905. Unlike the predominantly Mormon constituents of his state, Senator Kearns wa ...
to evaluate the situation in Utah and he reported back in March 1913: "There seems to be no head f the diocese" Scanlan eventually agreed to accept an auxiliary bishop and arrangements were made for the appointment of
Joseph Sarsfield Glass Joseph Sarsfield Glass, C.M. (March 13, 1874 – January 26, 1926) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake in Utah from 1915 until his death in 1926. Biography Early life G ...
, a Los Angeles priest. However, Scanlan's health took a turn for the worse before Glass could be formally appointed. Scanlan died on May 10, 1915 at Holy Cross Hospital, aged 71.


References


Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlan, Lawrence 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests 1843 births 1915 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Salt Lake City 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States People from County Tipperary Alumni of St. Patrick's College, Thurles Alumni of All Hallows College, Dublin Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)