Patrick Thomas O'Reilly

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (September 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Patrick Thomas O'Reilly
Born	(1833-12-24)December 24, 1833
Died	May 28, 1892(1892-05-28) (aged 58)

Patrick Thomas O'Reilly (December 24, 1833 – May 28, 1892) was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts (1870-1892).

Biography[]

O'Reilly was born in Cavan, Ireland, the son of Philip and Mary Conaty O'Reilly. He came to Boston in his boyhood. He studied at St. Ignatius High School (Cleveland) and then classics at St. Charles's College, Maryland, theology at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and was ordained in Boston, 15 August 1857, by Bishop Bacon of Portland. He served as assistant to Father Boyce at St. John's Church, Worcester, till 1862, when he was sent to organize the parish of St. Joseph's, Boston. In 1864 he returned to Worcester as pastor of St. John's.^[1]

Bishop[]

Archbishop John Joseph Williams of Boston recommended O'Reilly for the newly established Diocese of Springfield. O'Reilly was consecrated on 25 September 1870 by John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York. He ruled the Diocese of Springfield for over twenty-one years. During this time its population increased from 90,000 to 200,000; its priests from 43 to 196; its religious women from 12 to 321. O'Reilly laid the cornerstones of nearly a hundred buildings consecrated either to religion or to education. He gave encouragement to works of charity. The hospital of the Sisters of Providence of Holyoke and the orphan asylums at Holyoke and at Worcester were begun during his administration.^[1] He welcomed to the diocese the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Mercy Hospital in Springfield developed from a Holyoke mission of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul.^[2] The hospital would later serve many dying and disabled veterans of the Spanish-American War.

O'Reilly is described as tall with "very kind gray eyes that would twinkle with humor". "The old folks, who remember him, speak of his quiet but convincing eloquence, his constant affability and kindness, his abiding trust in God that, to every cloud, gave a silver lining."^[3] O’Reilly died of Bright’s Disease on May 28, 1892 and was buried in the vault below St. Michael's Cathedral.

References[]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Springfield". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.