Thomas O'Gorman

Thomas O'Gorman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to John and Margaret (née O'Keefe) O'Gorman.[1] He and his parents moved to Chicago, Illinois, when he was still a child, and then to St. Paul, Minnesota.[2] In 1853 he and John Ireland were chosen by Bishop Joseph Crétin to study for the priesthood in France.[3] Upon his return to Minnesota, O'Gorman was ordained a priest on November 5, 1865.[4] He then served as pastor of St. John Church in Rochester until 1878, when he joined the Paulist Fathers in their missionary work in New York and also served as a curate at St. Paul Church.[2]

He returned to Minnesota in 1882 and was then appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception Church at Faribault.[1] In 1885 he became the first president of the newly established College of St. Thomas, where he also served as professor of dogmatic theology.[1] He was named professor of church history at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1890.[3] During his tenure at Washington, he wrote A History of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.[2]

On January 24, 1896, O'Gorman was appointed the second Bishop of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, by Pope Leo XIII.[4] He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 19 from Cardinal Francesco Satolli, with Bishops John Joseph Keane and Martin Marty, O.S.B., serving as co-consecrators, at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.[4] He was later installed at Sioux Falls on May 1, 1896.[3] During his 25-year-long tenure, he increased the number of priests and Catholics in the diocese, and erected numerous churches, schools, and hospitals.[3] He dedicated St. Joseph's Cathedral in 1919, and founded Columbus College in 1921.[3] O'Gorman later died at age 78.

O'Gorman Catholic High School in Sioux Falls is named in his honor.