Lawrence Scanlan

Lawrence Scanlan was born in Ballytarsna, near Cashel, County Tipperary, to Patrick and Catherine (née Ryan) Scanlan.[1] He studied at All Hallows College in Dublin, where he was ordained to the priesthood on June 28, 1868.[2] He departed for the United States the following July, later arriving at the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California in November.[3] He then served as a curate at St. Patrick's Church and later at St. Mary's Cathedral.[3] In 1869 he became pastor of Pioche, Nevada.[1]

After briefly returning to California to serve in Petaluma, Scanlan volunteered for the mission in the Utah Territory, where he arrived at Salt Lake City in August 1873.[1] There was then only one Catholic church in the territory, serving the nearly 800 members largely scattered among the region's various mining camps.[3] Traveling by horseback, stagecoach, or rail, he developed a fairly regular circuit in which he visited the mining camps at Park City, Bingham Canyon, Mercur, Stockton, Ophir, and Silver Reef at least once a month.[4] Scanlan introduced the Sisters of the Holy Cross from Indiana, and founded St. Mary's Academy and in 1875 Holy Cross Hospital.[1] He opened numerous parishes and schools, and also established All Hallows College, Kearns-St. Ann's Orphanage, and Judge Mercy Hospital.[4] He even celebrated Mass at the Latter-Day-Saints tabernacle in St. George, Utah in 1879.[3]

On November 23, 1886, Scanlan was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Utah and Titular Bishop of Lavanden by Pope Leo XIII.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on June 29, 1887, from Archbishop Patrick William Riordan, with Bishops Eugene O'Connell and Patrick Manogue serving as co-consecrators, in San Francisco.[2] In 1890 Scanlan purchased an area of land for $35,000 to establish a cathedral and ground was broken there in 1899.[5] When the vicariate was elevated to the rank of a diocese on January 30, 1891, Scanlan was named the first Bishop of Salt Lake.[2]

The greatest achievement during Scanlan's tenure was the Cathedral of the Madeleine. The construction of the cathedral was begun in 1900 and completed in 1909.[6] On August 15, 1909, the cathedral was dedicated by Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore.[6] The total cost of the construction itself was $344,000, a small fortune for the Utah Catholics of that time.[6]

Scanlan later died at Holy Cross Hospital, aged 71.[1] He is buried in the cathedral he built.[4]