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{{Infobox Christian leader
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type =
| type = Bishop
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_prefix = The Very Reverend
| name = Thomas Bonacum
| name = Thomas Bonacum
| honorific_suffix =
| honorific_suffix =
| title = Bishop of Lincoln
| title = Bishop of Lincoln
| image = Bishop Thomas Bonacum.jpg
| image = Thomas Bonacum.jpg
| image_size =
| image_size =
| alt =
| alt =
| caption =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| native_name_lang =
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| archdiocese =
| archdiocese =
| province =
| province =
| metropolis =
| metropolis =
| diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln|Diocese of Lincoln]]
| diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln|Diocese of Lincoln]]
| see =
| see =
| appointed =
| appointed =
| term_end =
| term_end =
| quashed =
| quashed =
| predecessor = ''Office established''
| predecessor = ''Office established''
| successor = [[John Henry Tihen]]
| successor = [[John Henry Tihen]]
| opposed =
| opposed =
| other_post =
| other_post = <!---------- Orders ---------->
⚫
| ordination = June 18, 1870
⚫
<!---------- Orders ---------->
⚫
| ordained_by = [[Joseph Melcher]]
⚫
| ordination = June 18, 1870
⚫
| consecration = November 30, 1887
⚫
| ordained_by = [[Joseph Melcher]]
⚫
| consecrated_by = [[Peter Richard Kenrick]]
⚫
| consecration = November 30, 1887
| cardinal =
⚫
| consecrated_by = [[Peter Richard Kenrick]]
| cardinal =
| created_cardinal_by =
⚫
| rank =
| created_cardinal_by =
⚫
| laicized = <!---------- Personal details ---------->
⚫
| rank =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|01|29}}
| laicized =
⚫
| birth_place = Penane, [[County Tipperary]], Ireland
<!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|01|29}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1911|02|04|1847|01|29}}
⚫
| death_place = [[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln]], [[Nebraska]], U.S.
⚫
| birth_place = Penane, [[County Tipperary]], Ireland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1911|02|04|1847|01|29}}
⚫
| death_place = [[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln]], [[Nebraska]], U.S.
}}
}}
'''Thomas Bonacum''' (January 29, 1847 &ndash; February 4, 1911) was an Irish-born American prelate of the [[Catholic Church]]. He was the first [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln|Bishop of Lincoln]], serving from 1887 until his death in 1911.
'''Thomas Bonacum''' (January 29, 1847 &ndash; February 4, 1911) was an Irish-born American prelate of the [[Catholic Church]]. He was the first [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln|Bishop of Lincoln]], serving from 1887 until his death in 1911.

Revision as of 22:00, 27 September 2022

The Very Reverend

Thomas Bonacum
Bishop of Lincoln
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseDiocese of Lincoln
PredecessorOffice established
SuccessorJohn Henry Tihen
Orders
OrdinationJune 18, 1870
by Joseph Melcher
ConsecrationNovember 30, 1887
by Peter Richard Kenrick
Personal details
Born(1847-01-29)January 29, 1847
Penane, County Tipperary, Ireland
DiedFebruary 4, 1911(1911-02-04) (aged 64)
Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.

Thomas Bonacum (January 29, 1847 – February 4, 1911) was an Irish-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of Lincoln, serving from 1887 until his death in 1911.

Early life and education

Thomas Bonacum was born January 29, 1847 in Penane,[1] near Thurles, County Tipperary, the youngest of four children of Edmund and Mary (née McGrath) Bonacum.[2] While he was still an infant, the family immigrated to the United States in 1848, settling in St. Louis, Missouri.[3]

He received his early education in St. Louis before attending Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, near Milwaukee, from 1863 to 1867.[4] Returning to Missouri, he completed his studies for the priesthood at St. Vincent's Seminary in Cape Girardeau.[2]

Priesthood

Bonacum was ordained a priest on June 18, 1870 at St. Mary of Victories Church in St. Louis.[5] He was ordained by Joseph Melcher, the Bishop of Green Bay and a former St. Louis priest, since Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick was in Rome attending the First Vatican Council.[6] After serving for a few months as assistant pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Edina, Bonacum served as pastor of St. Stephen's Church in Indian Creek from 1871 to 1874.[7] He then served as pastor of St. Peter's Church in Kirkwood (1874-1877).[7]

Bonacum then furthered his studies in Europe, attending the University of Würzburg in Bavaria for two years. While there, he studied theology under Franz Hettinger and canon law and church history under Joseph Hergenröther.[6] After returning to the United States, he served as pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Rolla until 1880,[8] when he was transferred to Immaculate Conception Church in St. Louis.[6] He remained there for a year before serving as pastor of Holy Name Church (1882-1887).[7]

While pastor at Holy Name, Bonacum attended the third Plenary Council of Baltimore from November to December 1884, as a theological consultant to Archbishop Kenrick.[9] He greatly impressed the bishops at the Council, who nominated Bonacum to be the first bishop of the proposed Diocese of Belleville, Illinois.[2] However, the establishment of the diocese was postponed for three years and Bonacum remained at St. Louis during that time.

Bishop of Lincoln

On July 7, 1887, a cablegram from Rome announced that Pope Leo XIII appointed Bonacum to be the first bishop of the newly-erected Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska.[10] The official papal document confirming his appointment was dated August 9, 1887,[9] arriving the following September.[3] Bonacum received his episcopal consecration on November 30 from Archbishop Kenrick, with Bishop Louis Mary Fink of Leavenworth and Bishop James O'Connor of Omaha serving as co-consecrators, at St. John's Church in St. Louis.[5]

Bonacum took formal charge of the Diocese of Lincoln on December 21, 1887, when he was installed at St. Teresa's Pro-Cathedral.[9] In 1888, the first full year of his episcopate, the young diocese contained a Catholic population of 23,000 with 32 priests, 29 parishes, and three parochial schools.[11] By the time of Bonacum's death in 1911, there was a Catholic population of 37,000 with 84 priests, 135 churches and 65 with resident pastors, and 28 parochial schools.[12]

Bonacum died from complications of pneumonia and Bright's disease on February 4, 1911, aged 64.[13] Upon his death, Lincoln mayor Don Lathrop Love issued the following proclamation: "By this sad event we have lost not only a great prelate but a distinguished and public-spirited citizen as well...It would be a fitting tribute to display emblems of mourning along our public streets and to close our offices and places of business during the hour of his funeral."[3]

Legal troubles

Bonacum's tenure was largely consumed by legal battles. In 1888, he sued Patrick Egan, a prominent Lincoln citizen and later U.S. Ambassador to Chile, for failing to pay a pledge he had made for the improvement of St. Teresa's Pro-Cathedral.[14] It was rumored that Egan, a staunch Republican, was unhappy that Bonacum attended a Democratic reception.[15] The case went to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which ruled in Bonacum's favor and ordered Egan to pay the pledge.[16]

His most extensive battles were with his own priests. In 1891, he brought Rev. Martin Corbett of Palmyra, with whom he had many quarrels, before a diocesan court that consisted of five other priests.[17] The charges against Corbett were dismissed, but Bonacum later tried to remove Corbett from his position in 1894. Corbett refused and sued Bonacum for libel after the bishop wrote a letter announcing Corbett's suspension to his congregation.[15][18] Bonacum gained a victory when the libel suit was dismissed,[19] but it was still the first time a Catholic bishop had been brought to criminal court in the United States.[15]

Meanwhile, a group of priests submitted a list of complaints against Bonacum to Francesco Satolli, the U.S. Apostolic Delegate, in 1893.[17] In retaliation, Bonacum tried in 1895 to expel one of those priests, Rev. William Murphy, who had also presided over the diocesan trial that originally ruled in Rev. Corbett's favor.[17] Murphy appealed to church authorities and in 1896 an ecclesiastical court of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque reversed Bonacum's decision and ordered him to pay a fine as well as Murphy's legal fees.[17]

Bonacum's dispute with Murphy did not end there. In 1900, he tried to remove Murphy from his position as pastor of St. Vincent's Church in Seward, which also included charge of Immaculate Conception Church in Ulysses.[20] When Murphy refused to step down, the bishop excommunicated him and brought action in court to have him removed from the church property.[20] This litigation would last for more than ten years, moving through both secular and ecclesiastical courts and even coming to the personal attention of Pope Pius X.[21]

A high point of the dispute was June 18, 1909, when Bonacum came to Ulysses to remove Murphy from Immaculate Conception Church.[22] However, Murphy had strong support from the congregation and a mob of more than 200 people forced Bonacum to leave.[22] Even when the bishop tried to take a taxi out of town, the mob followed him and forced him to get out of the car and walk several miles to the next town.[22]

That battle only ended in 1911, when both Bonacum and Murphy died; the bishop from natural causes and the priest from a car accident.[20] As a result of their feud, Pius X issued a new rule prohibiting priests or bishops from suing a fellow clergyman in secular court.[23]

References

  1. ^ Hackett, James Dominick (1936). Bishops of the United States of Irish Birth Or Descent. New York: American Irish Historical Society.
  2. ^ a b c Morton, Julius Sterling (1906). Illustrated History of Nebraska. Vol. II. Lincoln, NE: Jacob North & Company.
  3. ^ a b c Bruskewitz, Fabian (August 17, 2012). "Our Hundred and Twenty-Fifth". Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.
  4. ^ "Necrology". Salesianum. VI (III). April 1911.
  5. ^ a b "Bishop Thomas Bonacum". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  6. ^ a b c "The Appointment of Father Bonacum as Bishop of Lincoln, Neb". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. July 9, 1887.
  7. ^ a b c Gosen, Loretta (1986). History of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, 1887-1987. Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.
  8. ^ "Parish History". St. Patrick Parish.
  9. ^ a b c Meehan, Thomas (1910). "Lincoln". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  10. ^ "FATHER BONACUMA A BISHOP: A Well-Known St. Louis Priest Raised to the Episcopate". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 8, 1887.
  11. ^ "Diocese of Lincoln". Sadliers' Catholic Directory, Almanac And Ordo. New York: D.& J. Sadlier & Co. 1888.
  12. ^ "Diocese of Lincoln". The Official Catholic Directory. New York: M.H. Wiltzius. 1911.
  13. ^ "THE DEATH OF BISHOP BONACUM". Lincoln Journal Star. February 4, 1911.
  14. ^ "The Bonacum Case". Lincoln Evening Call. October 16, 1888.
  15. ^ a b c "The Cause of the Trouble Between Bishop Bonacum and His Parish Priests". The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 25, 1894.
  16. ^ "Bishop Bonacum Wins". Lincoln Journal Star. January 4, 1894.
  17. ^ a b c d "BISHOP BONACUM BEATEN: The Metropolitan Court Decides in Favor of the Priests". Sioux City Journal. December 2, 1896.
  18. ^ "BISHOP BONACUM LIBEL SUIT". The New York Times. February 6, 1894.
  19. ^ "NO MALICIOUS INTENT: Libel Suit Against Bishop Bonactun Dismissed—Had a Vested Right". The Mercury News. February 11, 1894.
  20. ^ a b c Zabel, Orville H. (1955). God and Caesar in Nebraska: A Study of the Legal Relationship of Church and State, 1854-1954. University of Nebraska.
  21. ^ "POPE GETS A COPY OF BONACUM-MURPHY DECISION". The Lincoln Star. July 15, 1905.
  22. ^ a b c "BISHOP BONACUM CHASED BY A MOB". The Lincoln Star. June 19, 1909.
  23. ^ "CANNOT SUE PRIESTS IN CIVIL COURT". The Beatrice Daily Express. December 5, 1911.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
none
(diocese erected)
 Bishop of Lincoln
1887–1911 		Succeeded by
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