Michael Gallagher (bishop)

Gallagher was ordained a priest for the diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 19, 1893. On July 5, 1915, he was appointed titular bishop of Tipasa and coadjutor of Grand Rapids. On December 26, 1916, he was appointed bishop of Grand Rapids. On July 18, 1918, Gallagher was appointed bishop of Detroit, where he served until his death in 1937.[1]

In 1926, Gallagher appointed Charles Coughlin as parish priest in Royal Oak. Coughlin's popular radio broadcasts raised funds for the building of National Shrine of the Little Flower in the parish, but his increasingly political and antisemitic content grew controversial. Although the Vatican, the Nunico, and the Archbishop of Cincinnati all wanted Coughlin silenced, they recognized that only Gallagher, as Coughlin's ordinary, had the canonical authority to do so, which he declined to exercise.[2]

The Fisher Brothers of the firm Fisher Body in Detroit commissioned the Boston firm of McGinnis and Walsh, specialists in ecclesiastical architecture, to design a residence for Bishop Gallagher.[3][4] The 39,000-square-foot (3,600 m²) home, paid for by the Fishers, is the largest within the city of Detroit.[3]

Bishop Gallagher residence in Detroit's Palmer Woods Historic District.

The two-story brick residence, a large central structure flanked by diagonal wings.[3] Religious themes are included throughout the house, both on the exterior and the interior.[3] On the exterior, medallions, shields and crests are set into the brickwork, and a copper statue of the St. Michael the Archangel defeating Satan is prominent.[3] The interior is finished with oak, stone and masonry. The house had, at one time, the largest collection of Pewabic glazed pottery tile in Michigan.[3]

Gallagher lived in this home until his death in 1937; subsequent archbishops of Detroit Edward Mooney and John Francis Dearden also lived in the home.[3]

• Archdiocese of Detroit