Richard Luke Concanen

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Richard Luke Concanen OP (born December 27, 1747 in Kilbegnet , Ireland ; † June 19, 1810 in Naples , Italy ) was the first Roman Catholic bishop of New York .

Life

Little is known about his childhood in Ireland. At the age of 17 he entered a Dominican monastery in 1764 . In 1765 he left his monastery in Leuven for Rome, where he was ordained a priest on December 22, 1770 and then spent almost his entire life working for the Irish Church there. Concanen refused twice (1789 and 1802) to accept an Irish diocese himself. In the "veto question" at the time of the emancipation of the Irish and English Catholics, Concanen stood on the side of those who tried to prevent the British government from receiving a right of veto on the appointments of bishops in exchange for full emancipation. He also fought against the efforts of national circles in English and Irish Catholicism to let the British state pay the salaries of the Catholic clergy. When a diocese was to be established in New York, Concanen was proposed by Rome. On April 24, 1808, he received the episcopal ordination of Michele Di Pietro , cardinal prefect of Propaganda Fide . Co- consecrators were Cardinal Tommaso Arezzo and Archbishop Benedetto Sinibaldi .

Because the Napoleonic Wars were raging in Europe at that time , it was impossible for him to reach his diocese. It was not until June 1810 that an opportunity for the crossing appeared, which is why Concanen traveled to Naples to secure a ship passage to the USA. On June 19, 1810, however, he died completely unexpectedly in Naples and was buried in the sacristy of the Dominican church of San Domenico Maggiore . The first Roman Catholic bishop of New York was never in his diocese, which was vacant for four years after his death. It was not until 1814 that New York Catholics got a bishop again.

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personal data
SURNAME Concanen, Richard Luke
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic clergyman, Bishop of New York
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1747
PLACE OF BIRTH Kilbegnet , Ireland
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1810
Place of death Naples