Richard Phelan

Richard Phelan was born on January 1, 1828, in Sralee, near Ballyragget, County Kilkenny, Ireland, to Michael and Mary Keoghan Phelan. Of their nine children, four entered religious life. He was educated by private tutors, and at St Kieran's College in Kilkenny.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzBOAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bishop+Richard+Phelan&pg=PA96|title=Lives of American Prelates ; Or, Illustrated Biographies of the Catholic Bishops of the United States|first=Thomas E.|last=Judge|date=October 5, 1902|publisher=Wm. J. McAssey|accessdate=October 5, 2024|via=Google Books}}

In 1850, as a seminarian, Phelan was recruited by Bishop Michael O'Connor of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, to serve in the United States. Once in Pennsylvania, Phelan continued his studies at the Seminary of St. Michael and after two years entered St. Mary's Theological Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland.

Phelan was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh by Bishop Michael O'Connor in Pittsburgh on May 4, 1854.{{Cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19041221.2.37&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|title=San Francisco Call 21 December 1904 — California Digital Newspaper Collection|website=cdnc.ucr.edu|accessdate=October 5, 2024}}{{Cite web |title=Bishop Richard Phelan [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bphelan.html |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}} After his ordination, Phelan was assigned to a mission in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, but returned to Pittsburgh later that year to assist during a cholera epidemic. He served in the Pittsburgh area based out of Saint Paul Cathedral. One parish he visited was St. Michael the Archangel in Elizabeth.[https://www.stmichaelelizabeth.org/85 "The Beginning". St. Michael Parish, Elizabeth, Pennsylvania]

After three years, Phelan was sent to Freeport, Pennsylvania, and in 1868, became pastor of St. Peter's Catholic Parish in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. He built a new church at a cost exceeding $150,000. In 1876, this church became the pro-cathedral of the new diocese of Allegheny. He also completed the schools that his predecessor had begun. During the absence of Bishop John Tuigg in 1881, Phelan he was appointed administrator of the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, and he was subsequently made vicar-general.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRMWnZPvE2MC&dq=Bishop+Richard+Phelan&pg=PA343|title=The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States: Embracing Sketches of All the Archbishops and Bishops from the Establishment of the See of Baltimore to the Present Time. Also, an Account of the Plenary Councils of Baltimore, and a Brief History of the Church in the United States|first=John Gilmary|last=Shea|date=October 5, 1886|publisher=Office of Catholic Publications|accessdate=October 5, 2024|via=Google Books}}

After Tuigg suffered a series of strokes, Pope Leo XIII on May 12, 1885, appointed Phelan as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and titular bishop of Cibyra. On August 2, 1885, he was consecrated by Archbishop Patrick John Ryan.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji5KAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bishop+Richard+Phelan&pg=PA19-IA3|title=History of the Catholic Church in the United States from the Earliest Period to the Present Time: With Biographical Sketches of the Living Bishops. Embellished with 85 Photogravure Portraits of the American Hierarchy, Steel Plates, and Typogravure Views of All the Cathedral Churches, Besides Numerous Other Illustrations|first=Richard Henry|last=Clarke|date=October 5, 1890|publisher=Gebbie & Company|accessdate=October 5, 2024|via=Google Books}} At that point, he handled the actual administration of the diocese, but continued to reside in Allegheny. On 1 July 1889, the Diocese of Allegheny was totally suppressed and folded into the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The people of many nationalities who were coming in large numbers to find work in the mines and mills of Western Pennsylvania were formed into regular congregations, supplied with pastors who could speak their own languages. In May, 1901, the counties of Cambria, Blair, Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset were taken from the Diocese of Pittsburg to form, with several counties from the Diocese of Harrisburg, the new Diocese of Altoona.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12121a.htm Canevin, Regis. "Pittsburgh." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 1 September 2019{{PD-notice}} Phelan automatically became bishop of Pittsburgh upon the death of Bishop Tuigg on December 7, 1889.

Richard Phelan died on December 20, 1904, at age 76, at St. Paul's Orphan Asylum in Pittsburgh. He was buried in St. Mary Cemetery in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood.

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• {{catholic|wstitle=Pittsburgh}}

• {{Cite book | author=Glenn, Francis A. | title=Shepherds of the Faith 1843-1993: A Brief History of the Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh | publisher=Pittsburgh: Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh | year=1993 | id=ISBN none}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091231014722/http://www.diopitt.org/wel_former_bishops.php Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh History of Bishops webpage]
• [https://pittsburghcemeteries.wordpress.com/tag/phelan-bishop-richard/ Photos of Phelan's tombstone and inscription]

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before=John Tuigg |

title=Bishop of Pittsburgh |

years=1889–1904 |

after=Regis Canevin

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{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh|state=collapsed}}

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Category:1828 births

Category:1904 deaths

Category:Christian clergy from County Kilkenny

Category:Irish emigrants to the United States

Category:St. Mary's Seminary and University alumni

Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Pittsburgh

Category:19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States

Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States

Category:American Roman Catholic clergy of Irish descent

Category:People from Ballyragget