Rt. Rev. Thomas O'Gorman Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1133-1134 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	RT. REV. THOMAS O'GORMAN.—To him whose name initiates this review 
has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with 
the work of the holy Catholic church. A man of distinctive and forceful 
individuality and high attainments, he has consecrated his life to the 
service of the Divine Master and is at the present time ministering 
faithfully and zealously as bishop of the Catholic church for the 
diocese of South Dakota, of which Sioux Falls is the see city and 
consequently his place of residence. Bishop O'Gorman is a native of the 
city of Boston, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 1st of May, 
1843, being a son of John and Margaret O'Gorman, who removed to the west 
when he was a child, his boyhood days being passed in Chicago and St. 
Paul, where he secured his early educational training in public and 
parochial schools. At the age of ten and one-half years, in company with 
the distinguished Archbishop Ireland, who was then sixteen years of age, 
he was sent to France, where he continued his literary studies and was 
also educated for the priesthood. Upon his return to St. Paul, 
Minnesota, in 1865, he was ordained to the priesthood, receiving holy 
orders on the 5th of November of that year. Thereafter he had charge of 
a missionary district in southern Minnesota until 1878, the center of 
said district being the town of Rochester. In the year last mentioned he 
joined with the Paulist fathers in their missionary work, and during a 
portion of two years was an assistant in the church of St. Paul in New 
York city. In 1885 Bishop O'Gorman was made president of the seminary of 
St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in which institution he also 
occupied the chair of philosophy and dogmatic theology. In 1890 he was 
appointed professor of ecclesiastical history in the Roman Catholic 
University at Washington, D. C., where he remained until 1896, in which 
year he was consecrated a bishop and assigned to the diocese of South 
Dakota, being the second incumbent of this distinguished and exacting 
office. 

	At the time of his residence in the national capital the Bishop 
was selected to write a history of the Roman Catholic church in the 
United States, and this important work he successfully accomplished, 
Volume IX of the series of denominational church histories, published 
under the auspices of the American Society of Church History, having 
been written by him. Of his work in this connection it has been 
pertinently said: "This volume evidences the fact that no mistake was 
made in his being selected for the work. It covers a wider field than 
any other volume of the series, commencing with the first landing of 
Columbus on this continent and, advancing step by step, gives a complete 
account of the development and growth of the church to the present time. 
It is a great work, written in a most attractive and scholarly style, 
and places the Bishop in the front rank of historical writers." 

	Concerning the work of the Bishop in his present wide field of 
endeavor we can not do better than to quote at length from an 
appreciative article previously published: "On the 2d of May, 1896, 
Bishop O'Gorman arrived in Sioux Falls, accompanied by Archbishop 
Ireland, of St. Paul, and other high dignitaries of the church, and the 
reception, the ceremonies of the installation the day following, in St. 
Michael's church, and the banquet tendered him, will always be 
remembered by participants as among the grandest events in the history 
of the city. It is not too much to say that a more cordial and elaborate 
welcome was never given to anyone in Sioux Falls; and one of the most 
pleasing features attending the coming of this eminent prelate to our 
midst was the hearty co-operation of the clergy of other denominations 
in making the event a notable one. Since coming to South Dakota he has 
labored with great zeal and ability in advancing the welfare of his church, 
and under his administration some of the finest and most costly church 
buildings in the state have been erected. The Bishop is greatly beloved 
by his people, and throughout the state, regardless of denominational 
preferences, he is highly esteemed, while the city of Sioux Falls is 
especially proud of her distinguished citizen." Both by inherent 
qualities and training the Bishop is eminently fitted for leadership in 
both the spiritual and temporal affairs of his exalted calling, and his 
labors are fruitful in a cumulative way and will constitute for all time 
an integral part of the history not of only the church but also of the 
commonwealth in which he is serving so faithfully and zealously. In 1902 
Bishop O'Gorman went to the city of Rome as a member of the Taft 
commission, to which was assigned the work of negotiating with the 
church authorities upon the important business and civic questions 
connected with the church in the Philippine islands, and in connection 
with this work he was absent from his diocese for four months.