James Myles O'Gorman, O.C.S.O. (October 4, 1804 – July 4, 1874) was an Irish-born

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Nebraska Territory (now known as the Archdiocese of Omaha) from 1859 to 1874.

Biography

Born in the village of Cranna in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, O'Gorman professed solemn vows as a

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

Mount Melleray Abbey Mount Melleray Abbey () is a Trappist monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Diocese of Waterford. It closed in 2025. History The Cistercian order itself dates back ...

on March 25, 1841, and was ordained a priest on December 23, 1843. He emigrated to the United States and became a monk at New Melleray Monastery near

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

where he became its second

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

. On January 28, 1859

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

appointed him as the

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 ''Raphanea'' and Bishop of Omaha. He was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop

Peter Richard Kenrick Peter Richard Kenrick (August 17, 1806 – March 4, 1896) was an Irish Catholic priest who served as Bishop of St. Louis from 1843 to 1895. The see was made an archdiocese in 1847, when he was called as the first archbishop west of the Mississi ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

on May 8, 1859. The principal co-consecrators were Bishops

John Baptiste Miège John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

, S.J., the Vicar Apostolic of Kansas, and Henry Juncker of

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zeala ...

. When the Vicariate was established in 1859 it covered and emcopassed what are now the states of

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, as well as northeastern

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and parts of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. When O'Gorman arrived he had three priests to assist him and ordained another priest that year. By the time he died there were 19 priests that served 12,000 Catholics in 20 parishes and 56 missions. O'Gorman participated in the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...

(1869-1870) as one of the council fathers. He died on July 4, 1874, at the age of 69.

References

1804 births 1874 deaths 19th-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish emigrants to the United States Participants in the First Vatican Council Christian clergy from County Tipperary Religious leaders from Nebraska Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha Trappists People educated at Mount Melleray School {{US-RC-bishop-stub