The Reverend Colman E. O'Flaherty (24 April 1878 – 3 October 1918), was an Irish-born American

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross during

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Early life

O'Flaherty was born in

Carraroe Carraroe (in Irish language, Irish, and officially, , meaning 'the red quarter') is a village in Connemara, the coastal Irish-speaking region (Gaeltacht) of County Galway, Ireland. It is known for its traditional fishing boats, the Galway Hook ...

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. He received his early education in Ireland and continued his studies at Lyons, France where he became fluent in French and at Montreal, Canada. He was ordained a

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on 15 September 1901 and spent the next nine years at Chamberlain and Kimball during which time he was responsible for the construction of seven church buildings including Columbus College at Chamberlain. In 1910 he was appointed to take charge of the Holy Family Church at Mitchell where he was instrumental in the development of Notre Dame Academy in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Military career

He joined the

American Expeditionary Force The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

and was sent to France during

and served as an

Army chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

with the 28th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He was killed in action by shellfire on 3 October 1918. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the citation of which read: ''For extraordinary heroism near

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, Chaplin O'Flaherty displayed conspicuous gallantry in administering to the wounded under terrific fire, exposing himself at all times to reach their sides, and give them aid. In the performance of this work, he was killed.''

Notable family

He was the older brother of

Mayor of Galway The office of Mayor of Galway is an honorific title used by the of Galway City Council. The council has jurisdiction throughout its administrative area of the city of Galway which is the largest city in the province of Connacht, in Ireland. Th ...

Michael O'Flaherty Professor Michael O'Flaherty is the current Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe. Also he was the Director of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), a member from 2004 to 2012 of the United Nations Human Rights Commi ...

(elected 1950) and uncle of

Patrick O'Flaherty (born 1928, elected 1964).

References

* ''Origin of the Surname O'Flaherty'', Anthony Matthews, Dublin, 1968, p. 40. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oflaherty, Colman 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests People from Carraroe 1878 births 1918 deaths Irish people of World War I American military personnel killed in World War I Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States) World War I chaplains United States Army chaplains Irish emigrants to the United States 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests 20th-century American clergy 19th-century American clergy Christian clergy from County Galway