Patrick Aloysius Alphonsus McGovern

Patrick Aloysius Alphonsus McGovern (October 14, 1872 – November 8, 1951) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Cheyenne from 1912 until his death.

Styles of
Patrick McGovern
Reference styleThe Most Reverend
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleMonsignor
Posthumous stylenone

Biography

Patrick McGovern was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and later became an orphan.[1] After studying under the Sisters of Mercy, he graduated from Creighton University in 1891 and then entered Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Richard Scannell on August 18, 1895, and did pastoral work in Jackson and Kearney. McGovern was pastor of St. Philomena's Cathedral from 1898 to 1907, during which time he also abolished tuition fees for the parochial school. After the cathedral's demolition, he was named to St. Peter's Church in November 1907.

On January 19, 1912, McGovern was appointed the fourth Bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming, by Pope Pius X. He received episcopal consecration on the following April 11 from Archbishop James Keane, with Bishops Scannel and Philip Garrigan serving as co-consecrators. McGovern was given an honorary doctorate of laws from Creighton University in 1928, established St. Joseph's Orphanage September 1, 1930. In 1971 it ceased being an orphanage and became a Children's home for troubled youth age 6 to 18. Bishop McGoven was made an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne in 1937.

A man of frail health, he spent four months of his first year as Bishop at a hospital, where he received surgical treatment for a stomach ailment, and later suffered a nervous breakdown in 1940, requiring ten weeks' hospitalization. His self-confessed greatest accomplishment during his tenure was increasing the number of clergy servicing the Diocese of Cheyenne; at the time of his arrival, there were only fourteen priests.

McGovern died at age 79, having served as Bishop for thirty-nine years.

References
  1. New Catholic Encyclopedia. Catholic Church in Wyoming
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
James John Keane		 Bishop of Cheyenne
1912–1951		 Succeeded by
Hubert Michael Newell
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