Philip R. McDevitt

Portrait of Philip R. McDevitt by Thomas Eakins, 1901.

Philip McDevitt was born in Philadelphia to Richard and Mary Ann (née Dinneney) McDevitt.[3] After graduating from La Salle College High School in 1877, he studied at La Salle College and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.[3] He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Patrick John Ryan on July 14, 1885.[4] He served as a curate at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Port Richmond, Philadelphia before becoming superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1899.[3] In this position, he gained a national reputation as an educator and administrator. He was raised to the rank of a Domestic Prelate by Pope Pius X on July 16, 1910.[3]

On July 10, 1916, McDevitt was appointed the fourth Bishop of Harrisburg by Pope Benedict XV.[4] He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 21 from Archbishop Edmond Francis Prendergast, with Bishops John Joseph McCort and John Edmund Fitzmaurice serving as co-consecrators.[4] During his 19-year-long tenure, he established ten parishes and twelve schools.[3] In 1925 he created the Mission Board to respond to financial needs caused by the Great Depression.[5] He also served as chairman of the Catholic Press Department within the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and president of the American Catholic Historical Association.

McDevitt later died at age 77, and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Harrisburg. Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg and Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote are both named in his honor.

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