John Patrick Farrelly

John Patrick Farrelly was born in Memphis, Tennessee to John and Martha (née Clay) Farrelly.[1] His father was a member of the Tennessee General Assembly, and his grandfather was one of the authors of the original Arkansas Constitution.[2]

He and his parents moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and later to Kentucky (1868), where young Farrelly attended St. Mary's College.[1] After studying at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he entered Notre-Dame de la Paix at Namur, Belgium, in 1873 and completed his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, from where he obtained a Doctor of Sacred Theology.[2]

Farrelly was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta on May 22, 1880.[3] After touring Egypt and the Holy Land, he returned to Tennessee in 1882 and became a curate (and later pastor) at the Cathedral of Nashville.[1] He was named chancellor of the Diocese of Nashville in 1883, and secretary of the American bishops at Rome in September 1887.[2] While in Rome, he also served as spiritual director of the North American College (1893–1909).[1]

On March 18, 1909, Farrelly was appointed the fourth Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, by Pope Pius X.[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 1 from Cardinal Girolamo Maria Gotti, O.C.D., with Bishops John Baptist Morris and Thomas Francis Kennedy serving as co-consecrators.[3] He was installed at St. John's Cathedral on June 13, 1909.[3] During his 12-year-long tenure, he improved the parochial school system; organized Catholic Charities; and erected 47 churches and schools, including Cathedral Latin High School.[4] During World War I, he was appointed by Mayor Harry L. Davis to the Cleveland War Commission.[2] He also ordered English to be spoken at all German churches and schools in the diocese.[5]

Farrelly died from pneumonia in Knoxville,[1] aged 64. He is buried in the crypt beneath the main altar of St. John's Cathedral.[2]