Province Baltimore Installed March 19, 1912 Successor Andrew Brennan Consecration 3 May 1908 | See Richmond Term ended January 15, 1926 Predecessor Augustine Van de Vyver | |
 | ||
Other posts Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco (1907–12) Ordination May 26, 1877
by Bishop James Gibbons Died 1 January 1927, Richmond, Virginia, United States Education Pontifical North American College Place of burial Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Richmond, Virginia, United States | ||
Denis Joseph O'Connell (January 28, 1849 – January 1, 1927) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop for the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, in the United States.
Contents
Early life
O'Connell was born in Donoughmore, County Cork, then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the son of Michael O'Connell and his wife Bridget, née O'Connell. His family soon emigrated to the United States and settled in South Carolina, where his father's two brothers, Jeremiah and Joseph, were serving as missionary priests.
As a young man, O'Connell felt called to be a priest and entered St. Charles College, Ellicott City, Maryland in 1868. He came to the attention of James Gibbons, who was then Apostolic Vicar for the State of North Carolina. In part due to the influence of his uncles, in 1871 he was sent to Rome to study at the North American College. "So brilliant was the young man that at his examination for the degree of Doctor of Divinity the cardinal prefect and examining professors accorded it to him by acclamation instead of by the usual method of balloting." O'Connell was ordained in Rome on May 26, 1877 by Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta.
Career
When Gibbons was appointed Archbishop of Baltimore, he sent Father O'Connell back to Rome in November as his procurator to accept the bishop's pallium. In the two months he was there O'Connell closely observed how the Curia functioned. In 1885 O'Connell (now a monsignor) was appointed rector of his alma mater in Rome, a position he held until 1895. As rector of the North American College, O'Connell was the unofficial Roman contact for the American bishops. Upon his return to Richmond, he was assigned to St. Peter's Church.
From 1903 to 1909, he served as the third rector of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
In December 1907, O'Connell was named as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, for which office he was consecrated as the titular bishop of Sebaste in Cilicia in May 1908 by Gibbons, by then a cardinal.
Episcopacy
O'Connell was named as the Bishop of Richmond by Pope Pius X in January 1912, taking office that following March. He served in that office until his resignation in 1926, at which time he was named the Titular Bishop of Mariamme.
Death
O'Connell died January 1, 1927, at the age of 77. He had been a priest for over 49 years and a bishop for over 18.
Legacy
Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, founded when the location was still part of the Diocese of Richmond, is named for him.