William O'Hara (April 14, 1816 – February 3, 1899) was an Irish-born American 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 ...

. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania, serving from 1868 until his death in 1899. He founded St. Thomas College in 1888.

Biography

Early life and education

William O'Hara was born April 14, 1816, in

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 road (Northern Ireland), A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the river ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, in Ireland, to Thomas and Mary Louisa (née Miller) O'Hara. His mother was a member of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

but converted to Catholicism soon after marriage. The family moved to the United States in 1820, settling in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. O'Hara received his early education in that city and later attended

Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers over 40 undergraduate degrees and a Mas ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1834, having decided to become a priest, O’Hara applied to Bishop

Francis Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and Archbishop of Baltimore (1851–1863). Kenrick grew up in Ireland, where he received ...

for acceptance as a seminarian for the Diocese of Philadelphia. Kenrick sent him to the Urban College of the Propaganda in Rome, where he completed his philosophical and theological studies. While there, O’Hara befriended fellow seminarian James Andrew Corcoran, who would become a prominent theologian.

Priesthood

O'Hara was ordained to the priesthood on December 21, 1842 by Cardinal Giacomo Filippo Fransoni at the

Lateran Basilica The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran (officially the ''Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica, Metropolitan and Primatial Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of A ...

. Upon his return to Philadelphia in February 1843, he was first appointed assistant pastor of St. Patrick's Parish. He held that position for thirteen years (1843-1856), during which time he was sometimes assigned to help at other parishes in Philadelphia and around the state (including

Chambersburg Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Ma ...

and Honesdale). In addition to his pastoral duties, O’Hara was named rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1853 by Bishop

John Neumann John Nepomucene Neumann (, , ; March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860) was a Bohemian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. An immigrant from Bohemia, he came to the United States in 1836, where he was ordained, joined the Redemptorist ...

. He also filled the chair of

moral theology Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics" A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply satisfyin ...

at the seminary. Bishop Neumann increased the heavy workload of the rector-professor-assistant in 1856, when he promoted O’Hara to full pastor of St. Patrick's Parish. During his time as pastor, he enlarged the church, built a new rectory, renovated the parochial school, and brought in the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Christian Brothers to staff the school. After he left Philadelphia, O’Hara would return to St. Patrick's to celebrate Mass on

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

for many years. O’Hara was named

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the diocese in 1860 by Bishop James Wood, leaving the seminary but remaining at St. Patrick's Church. In 1866 he served as an official at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore.

Bishop of Scranton

On March 3, 1868, O'Hara was appointed the first Bishop of Scranton by

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 ...

. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

on July 12, 1868, from Bishop Wood, with Bishops William Elder and Patrick Lynch serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. The diocese had been separated from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It consisted of ten counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania. When O'Hara became bishop, the diocese had a Catholic population of 25,000 with 47 churches, 25 priests, and two parochial schools with four students. By the time of O'Hara's death 31 years later, there were 125,000 Catholics, 78 churches, 130 priests, and 40 parochial schools with 12,000 students. In 1888 he founded St. Thomas College for Young Men. Early in his tenure, O'Hara attended 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 ...

in Rome (1869-1870), where he voted in favor of

papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a Dogma in the Catholic Church, dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Saint Peter, Peter, the Pope when he speaks is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "in ...

. He spent a decade in court after a priest sued the bishop for removing him from his position as pastor of the Church of the Annunciation Parish in Williamsport, but the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...

ruled in O'Hara's favor in 1881. He ordained Francis Hodur, a Polish priest who would later break with the Catholic Church under O'Hara's successor and establish the

Polish National Catholic Church The Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC; , PNKK) is an independent Old Catholic church based in the United States and founded by Polish Americans that is part of the Union of Scranton. The PNCC is not in communion the Roman Catholic Church. S ...

. O'Hara recognized the golden jubilee of his priestly ordination in 1892 and the silver jubilee of his episcopal consecration the following year. Given his advanced age, he requested a

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

to assist and eventually succeed him, and he received Michael John Hoban in 1896. William O'Hara died in Scranton on February 3, 1899, at age 82. At the time of his death, he was the oldest Catholic bishop in the United States. He was buried under the main altar of St. Peter's Cathedral before being exhumed and reinterred at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohara, William 1816 births 1899 deaths University of Scranton Georgetown University alumni People from County Londonderry 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman Catholic bishops in Pennsylvania Irish emigrants to the United States University and college founders