Denis Thomas O'Connor (26 February 1841 – 30 June 1911) was a Canadian prelate of the

Catholic Church 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 ...

. The first member of the Congregation of St. Basil to become a bishop, he served as

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

(1890-1899) and later as the first Canadian-born Archbishop of Toronto (1899-1908).

Early life and education

O'Connor was born on 26 February 1841"Canada, Ontario Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYWS-3PK?cc=1927566&wc=M6VR-PTP : 22 April 2021), Northumberland > Cobourg > St Michael > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1837-1842 > image 30 of 46; Catholic Church parishes, Ontario. in Pickering,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He was the eldest of three children of Denis O'Connor and Mary O'Leary, who were Irish immigrants from

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. His mother died in 1846 and his father remarried, having ten more children. Five of his sisters would join religious orders. When the Congregation of St. Basil (also known as the Basilian Fathers) opened St. Michael's College at

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1852, O'Connor was enrolled as a member of the founding class. After completing his classical and philosophical studies at St. Michael's, he entered the novitiate of the Basilian Fathers in 1859 and made his profession on 24 June 1860. He then went to France to study theology at the Basilian colleges in

Feyzin Feyzin () is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France. History The refinery near Feyzin was the location of an Feyzin disaster, explosion and fire on January 4 ...

and

Annonay Annonay (; ) is a Communes of France, commune and largest city in the north of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department although it is not the ...

. Failing health due to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

forced O'Connor to return to Toronto in 1863 and allowed him to be ordained to the priesthood before the canonical age of 25.

Priesthood

At age 22, O'Connor was ordained a priest on 8 December 1863 by Bishop John Joseph Lynch at St. Mary's Church in Toronto. He immediately went on sick leave and was nursed back to health by his stepmother. In 1864 he returned to St. Michael's College, where he served as a professor and became acting administrator in 1868 during the absence of Charles Vincent. O'Connor helped the Basilian Fathers acquire Assumption College in Windsor, and he was subsequently appointed the college's superior in 1870. During his 20 years at the helm of Assumption, he turned the college around from a state of disrepair by tripling the number of students, expanding the curriculum, and adding two wings to the building.

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

conferred the title of

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

upon O'Connor in 1888.

Episcopal career

Bishop of London

After Bishop John Walsh was promoted to the

Archdiocese of Toronto The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toronto () is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the province of Ontario. Its archbishop is also the ecclesiastical provincial for the dioceses of Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines, and Thunder Bay ...

, Pope Leo appointed O'Connor to succeed him as the third

on 18 July 1890. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 19 October from Archbishop Walsh, with Bishops

John Samuel Foley John Samuel Foley (November 5, 1833 – January 5, 1918) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Detroit from 1888 until his death in 1918. Biography John Foley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Ma ...

and Thomas Joseph Dowling serving as co-consecrators, at St. Peter's Cathedral in London. O'Connor was the first Basilian priest to become a bishop, although he unsuccessfully sought to decline the appointment. He avoided significant expansion of the Diocese of London during his tenure, having inherited debt from the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral and overseeing a decline in the local Catholic population from 70,000 in 1890 to 60,000 in 1899. One notable exception was the establishment of St. Joseph's Hospital in London.

Archbishop of Toronto

Following the death of Archbishop Walsh, O'Connor was once again called to succeed him and was appointed the third Archbishop of Toronto on 7 January 1899. He was the first Canadian-born Archbishop of Toronto and the first Canadian-born head of the diocese since Michael Power, who served as bishop from 1841 to 1847. He took formal charge of the archdiocese on 3 May 1899, when he was installed at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto. With his academic background, O'Connor made a strong push for the certification of

separate school In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadian ...

teachers and tried to guarantee an equal education for Catholic children. However, gaining a reputation as a "rigid disciplinarian," O'Connor had a poor relationship with the clergy and laity of the archdiocese. He was strongly opposed to

interfaith marriage Interfaith marriage, sometimes called interreligious marriage or mixed marriage, is marriage between spouses professing and being legally part of different religions. Although interfaith marriages are often established as civil marriages, in so ...

and required his personal approval for any such marriage, even doubling the fees for the weddings. He also prohibited women from serving in church choirs, applied a strict implementation of

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

's ''

Tra le sollecitudini ''Tra le sollecitudini'' (Italian for "among the concerns") was a ''motu proprio'' issued 22 November 1903 by Pope Pius X that detailed regulations for the performance of music in the Catholic Church. The title is taken from the opening phrase of ...

'' that discouraged more modern liturgical music, banned parishes from holding picnics, and refused to allow the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

to expand into the archdiocese on the grounds that there were already too many Catholic societies.

Later life and death

O'Connor submitted his resignation as Archbishop of Toronto in April 1908, and it was accepted by the pope on 4 May 1908. At the same time, he was given the honorary tile of

Titular Archbishop 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 ''

Laodicea in Syria Laodicea () was a port city and important colonia of the Roman Empire in ancient Syria, near the modern city of Latakia. It was also called Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad mare. Under Septimius Severus, it was the capital of Roman Syria, and ...

''. He was succeeded by Fergus McEvay, who had also succeeded him as Bishop of London. O’Connor spent his retirement at the Basilian novitiate in Toronto. He died there from complications with

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied ...

and

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

on 30 June 1911, at age 70. He is buried in

Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery at 305 Erskine Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Mount Hope was created near the end of the 19th Century when the Archdiocese of Toronto was faced with a capacity issue at St. Michae ...

. Archbishop Denis O'Connor Catholic High School in

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

is named for him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Denis T. 1841 births 1911 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada Roman Catholic archbishops of Toronto Canadian people of Irish descent People from Pickering, Ontario Congregation of St. Basil Roman Catholic bishops of London, Ontario