Background
He was a son of Review David Bacon, (well known as one of the missionary pioneers of Ohio and Michigan,) and was born November 30, 1813, in Prospect, Connecticut.
He was a son of Review David Bacon, (well known as one of the missionary pioneers of Ohio and Michigan,) and was born November 30, 1813, in Prospect, Connecticut.
He majored in classical studies at the Sulpician College at Montreal and studied theology at Mount Saint Mary"s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
He was ordained a priest in Baltimore, Maryland on December 13, 1838. Returning to New York he served on the mission at Utica and Ogdensburg, and then in New York City and at Belleville, New Jersey. lieutenant was completed and dedicated on June 10, 1842, under the patronage of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.
In 1855 he was named first Bishop of Portland, and consecrated in Saint Patrick"s Cathedral, New York City, on April 22, 1855.
There were only six priests and eight churches in the Portland diocese, which at that time included the entire state of Maine. At his death the diocese contained 63 churches, 52 priests, 23 parish schools, and a Catholic population of about 80,000.
In the summer of 1874 he started for Rome with Archbishop John McCloskey, but having fallen ill on ship-board was forced to remain in the Naval Hospital at Brest until the Archbishop returned, on his way home. Bishop Bacon was carried on board the steamer and barely reached New York alive.
He was taken to a hospital on shore, where he died a few hours later.
The bronze altar of the Sacred Heart, in Saint Patrick"s Cathedral, New York, was erected by Archbishop McCloskey in thanksgiving for Bacon"s life being spared until he got back to the United States.