NOTE: Enjoy this excerpt from The American Daily Reader, by CatholicVote president Brian Burch and Emily Stimpson Chapman. To order the complete volume, visit the CatholicVote store today!
Father Michael O’Connor wanted to teach theology, and he wanted to teach it at Ireland’s Maynooth College. But after the Irish priest applied at the college, a friend—Philadelphia’s coadjutor bishop, Francis Kenrick—urged him to reconsider. Kenrick didn’t doubt O’Connor’s scholarly abilities. But he knew O’Connor had all the makings of an effective missionary, and he wanted his friend to join him in Pennsylvania.
Kenrick’s arguments won the day. In 1839, the 29-year-old O’Connor left Ireland for Philadelphia, where he served as rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Two years later, Kenrick asked O’Connor to accept the post of vicar-general for Philadelphia and assume responsibility for the Church in Western Pennsylvania.
O’Connor agreed, but he didn’t plan to hold the post for long. Unbeknownst to many of his fellow priests, O’Connor wanted to join the Society of Jesus. In 1843, however, the Fifth Provincial Council of Baltimore interrupted those plans when it decided that Pittsburgh should become a diocese and O’Connor its bishop.
O’Connor learned the news directly from Pope Gregory XVI. The priest had traveled to Rome that summer to ask the pope’s permission to join the Jesuits. But when O’Connor knelt and made his request, Pope Gregory replied, “You shall be a bishop first and a Jesuit afterward. I will not let you rise from your knees until you promise to accept the Diocese of Pittsburgh.”
O’Connor obeyed. For 17 years, he faithfully served Pittsburgh, founding 44 parishes, a seminary, five colleges, two orphanages, a hospital, and numerous schools. Trusting he’d honored his end of the bargain, O’Connor submitted his resignation in 1860. Pope Pius IX accepted it. Two years later, O’Connor made his solemn profession of the four Jesuit vows. The order exempted him from another decade of formation owing to his experience. Afterward, O’Connor taught at Boston College and became the Jesuits’ provincial superior in the United States.
The only American bishop to ever leave his see for religious life died at the age of 62 on October 18, 1872.
