Background
Mcgovern, Patrick Alphonsus was born on October 14, 1872 in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Son of Patrick and Alice (McGearty) Mcgovern.
Mcgovern, Patrick Alphonsus was born on October 14, 1872 in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Son of Patrick and Alice (McGearty) Mcgovern.
Bachelor of Arts, Creighton University, Omaha, 1891. Completed theological course, Mount Saint Mary's Seminary, Cincinnati.
He served as Bishop of Cheyenne from 1912 until his death. 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 Saint 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 Saint 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 Saint 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.
McGovern died at age 79, having served as Bishop for thirty-nine years.
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