Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/125

 O'CONXOR

O'CONNOR

He was ordained, March 25, 1848, was engaged in the diocese of Pittsburg, Pa., 1850-51 ; was superior of St. MicliaeFs seminary at Pittsburg, 1857-63, and was professor in the seminary of St. Charles Borromeo in 18G3. He was conse- crated bishop of " Dibona " and vicar apostolic of Nebraska, in Aug. 20, 1876. He established Creighton college in 1879. His vicariate became the diocese of Omaha, Oct. 2, 1885. He died in Omalia, Neb., May 27, 1890.

O'CONNOR, Joseph, journalist and author, was born in Tribes Hill. N.Y., Dec. 17, 1841 ; son of Joseph and Mary O'Connor. He removed with the family to Rochester, N.Y., attended the High School there, and was graduated at the University in 1863. He was admitted to the bar in 1869, but never practised. He was for a time teacher of languages in the Rochester Free Academy, and then devoted himself to journalism. He was con- nected editorially, in succession, with the Roches- ter Democrat, the Indianapolis Sentinel, the New York World, the Buffalo Courier, and finally (since 1885) with the Rochester Posf-Exjyy^ess as chief editor. At the Columbian Exposition (1893) he delivered the poem on New York day. He is the author of articles in magazines and reviews, in- cluding a remarkable story in Blacku-ood's, and of a volume of poems published in 1895. He mar- ried in 1877 Evangeline M. Johnson, of Rochester, author of analytical indexes to the works of Shakespeai-e and Hawthorne, of various transla- tions from the German, and of occasional jwems. O'CONNOR, Michael, R. C. bishop, was born at Queenstown, county Cork, Ireland, Sept. 27, 1810. He was prepared for the priesthood in France, and at the College of the Propaganda, Rome, where he was ordained. June 1, 1833. He served as professor of sacred scripture and as vice-rector of the Irish Ecclesia-stical college in Rome. 1833- 34, and was placed at a small mission at Cove, county Cork, Ireland, in 1834. He immigrated to the United States in 1839, with his brother James. He was pro- fessor in the ec- clesiastical seminary of St. Charles Bor- romeo, Philadelphia, president, with the care of the missions of Nonistown and West Chester. He built the church of St. Francis Xavier at Fairmount. and in 1841 became rector of St. Paul's church, Pittsburg, and vicar-general

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Pa., and afterward its

of the western section of the see of Philadelphia, which during his service was augmented by sev- eral new schools, churches and charitable insti- tutions. In 1843 he went to Rome to gain the consent of Pope Gregory XVI to join the Society of Jesus, but instead he was chosen bishop of the newly created diocese of Pittsburg, established Aug. 8, 1843, and when he knelt before the pope was forbidden to rise until he accepted the bish- opric. He was consecrated bishop of Pittsburg, Pa., in the church St. Agatha at Rome, Aug. 15, 1843, by Cardinal Filippo Fransoni, Prefect of the Propaganda, and on his way back to the United States passed through Ireland, where he obtained candidates for holy orders and seven sisters of the order of Our Lady of Mercy. Notwithstand- ing the fact that his diocese had a Roman Catho- lic population of 25,000, thirty-three churches and fourteen priests, there were but two religious institutions. In 1844 he established a church for colored Roman Catholics ; a school for boys and another for young ladies, and St. Michael's Theo- logical seminary. He also founded and became editor of the Catholic in 1844. He went to Rome in 1845, and returned with four Presentation Brothers, who established the order of St. Bene- dict in the United States and took charge of the boys' school. He visited Europe in 1852, and brought back a colony of Passionists, who opened their first house in the United States in Pittsburg. He was transferred to the see of Erie, established out of the diocese of Pittsburg, July 29, 1853, and was returned to Pittsburg, Feb. 20, 1854. In 1854 he again went to Rome, where he took an impor- tant part in revising the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. He completed St. Paul's cathedral, one of the largest in the United States, in 1855, and in May, 1860, he ten- dered his resignation as bishop, which was ac- cepted, May 23, 1860. He entered the Jesuit mon- astery of Gorheim, Germany, and after two years was permitted by special dispensation to take the four vows at once, when at his own request all episcopal faculties were withdrawn. He returned to the United States ; was professor of theology in Boston college, Massachusetts ; socius of the Provincial of the Jesuits, and preached and lec- tured in the principal cities of the country. He retired to the College of the Society of Jesus at Woodstock, Md.. early in 1872, where he resided until his death. He published a series of letters addressed to the governor of Pennsylvania, on the Common School System (1853). He died in Woodstock. Md.. Oct. IS. 1872.

O'CONNOR, William Douglas, author, was born in Boston. Mass., Jan. 2, 1833. He attended the public schools ; studied painting ; was asso- ciate editor of the Boston Commonwealth. 1852- .54: of the Saturda^j Evening Post. Philadelphia,