Eugene O'Callaghan (7 January 1888 – 21 May 1973) was a Roman Catholic bishop.

Early life and education

O'Callaghan was born in

Errigal Errigal () is a mountain near Gweedore in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the tallest peak of the Derryveagh Mountains and the tallest peak in County Donegal. Errigal is also the most southern and the highest of the mountain chain called th ...

and educated at St Macartan's College, Monaghan and

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mou ...

. He was ordained priest on 21 June 1913 for service in the Archdiocese of Armagh. His first appointment was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in the city of

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

and eventually he became Administrator of the Cathedral Parish of Armagh. While in that role he was responsible for building the additional church of St. Malachy. He was named parish priest of St. Peter's parish in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

in 1938.

Bishop of Clogher

He was appointed the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Bishop of Clogher The Bishop of Clogher (, ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and ...

in Ireland on 30 January 1943, following the death of Dr. Patrick McKenna, on 7 February 1942 and received episcopal consecration on 4 April 1943. His Episcopal Motto was ''Ad Jesum per Mariam'' (''To Jesus through Mary.'') In 1957 he denounced the IRA border campaign arguing that physical force would only aggravate the division not bring a solution. As was common with many Catholic bishops in Ireland at the time, one of his main pastoral priorities was education and specifically the provision of new schools to meet rising social demands. As bishop of a cross-border diocese, O'Callaghan had to operate within two jurisdictions but one academic and reviewer considers this Bishop O'Callaghan‘s "biggest achievement". O'Callaghan was responsible for the creation of

St Michael's College, Enniskillen St Michael's College (Irish: ''Coláiste Mhíchíl'') is a Roman Catholic boys' grammar school located in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Named for St Michael the Archangel, the school educates boys in County Fermanagh and the surrounding area ...

as a diocesan college, taking over the school from the

Presentation Brothers The Congregation of Presentation Brothers (; English: "Brothers of the Presentation of Mary"; abbreviated F.P.M.) is an international Catholic congregation of laymen founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by a local Irish businessman, Edmund Ig ...

and establishing it on a new site just outside the Fermanagh town. He attended the opening session of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

in October 1962. He resigned this appointment on 26 January 1971 in accordance with newly adopted protocols for the style of retired bishops in the post-Vatican II era and died as Bishop Emeritus of Clogher on 21 May 1973. O'Callaghan was succeeded by Patrick Mulligan. He is buried in the grounds of his Cathedral alongside his predecessor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocallaghan, Eugene 1888 births 1973 deaths Participants in the Second Vatican Council Roman Catholic bishops of Clogher Christian clergy from County Armagh 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland Place of death missing Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth People educated at St Macartan's College, Monaghan People from Camlough Bishops appointed by Pope Pius XII

Early life and education

Bishop of Clogher

See also

References