The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-10-01

sEQUIEs OF BISHOP o'GoRMAN
OF SIOUX FALLs-cAREER OF
LATE BISHOP skETcHED IN SIM
PIE BUT FEELING MANNER
WAS NOTED SCHOLAR, JEALOUS
PASTOR AND MODEL CHIEF
SHEPHERD OF A GRATEFUL
FLOCK.
Archbishop Keane, who as boy was
a member of Bishop (then Father
O'Gorman's parish at Rochester, Mimi,
and who during all the intervening
years has been intimately associated
with the prelate of Sioux Falls, deliv-
cred the funeral discourse over Bish-
op O'Gorman in st. Joseph's Cathedral,
Sioux Falls, on Thursday, September
%. The substance of the Archbishop's
sermon was as follows:
The Archbishop's Sermon.
"Let the people show forth their wis
dom and the Church declare their
praise. Book of Ecclesiasticus.
The order of the solemn and affect
ing services provides that I say a few
words at this time, of the dear friend
who has been taken from us, whose
last rites have brought us together
There comes to each of us such
thoughts of him as our personal re
membranes of him treasure. One OF
such forceful personality, of such
great gifts of mind, of such disinter
ested devotednesS to the best interests
of others, whose long life of action
was so crowded with varied activities
must have made distinct impressions
and exercised great variety of claims
on the hearts of all who were priv
legged to know him. You loved him fol
the rare excellence he exhibited in thu
long course of his pastorate in Sioux
Falls. / knew him in the first fervo1
Of his priesthood when in the course
of his charge at Rochester, Mimi, he
prepared me and others for the grea:
Sacramento of Penance, Holy Eucha
rist and Confirmation. I would be dis
appointed with any estimate of his life
and work based upon his years here
You must be disappointed by the in
suficiency of my account of his char
acter, life and work as l knew him
best.
Born in Boston.
Bishop O'Gorman was born in Bos
ton, May 1, 1S43, and was brought to
st. Paul when still very young. The
sanity sympathies of Bishop Cretin
discerned in him the rare marks of a
priestly vocation and he was sent to
France for the long course of mental
moral and religious training which the
Church provides for her candidates tC
the priesthood His brilliant successes
at college and in the French seminary
won for him admiration and respect
In his rhetoric year he was awarded
the Gold Medal for French Literature
in competition with native sons, flu
ture leaders of French thought. He
completed his studies while under age
for ordination, returned to st. Paul
and received the solemn conservation
to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, in
the venerable Cathedral of that city
November 5, 1865. Shortly after he
was sent to Rochester to care for thai
then small center and the four mis-
sions attached thereto.
At the risk of seeming. unduly ia
miliar for an occasion like this, l ven
ture to tell in few words how he i'm
pressed me and others of that pionee1
community. He had something about
him which invited and inspired conf
dence. He impressed upon all the
most exalted idea of the priestly char
acter. He drew around him old and
young, Catholic and non-Catholic, by
the almost irresistible attractions oil
most charming personality. He ex
hibited a singular refinement of mind
with charming simplicity. Everyone
who observed his life felt that he lived
in an atmosphere not theirs, but 9th
err worldly. His spirit seemed always
most calm and simple with nothing in
it of affectation, nothing of vanity; he
was SonLl6, kluu, ueNOteu.
Encouraged Vacations.
It is not strange that before he had
lived there long many youths of the
community began to think of and
speak of the priesthood as a possible
career, and before he left, Rochester
became fertile field of priestly voca
tions, the home of higher ideals and
of wiser activities. He has been seer
there but seldom since he resigned his
pastorate, and yet, he is thought of
talked of and now prayed for by the
children of this generation. The story
of his labors is still recited and his
memory is still venerated. Without
belittling the worth of a considerable
line of successors, feel am correct
in saying that no pastor who served
that flock is so enshrined in the hearts
of even the people of today.
Work in New York.
He left Rochester about the yeal
1876 and went to New York City tC
engage with the Paulist Fathers in
the special work of their apostolate Of
preaching to Catholics and non-Cath
olics the truths of the Faith. During
the eleven years at Rochester he had
devoted much time to well-ordered
study of Dogmatic Theology, Scripture
and History. He was gifted with q
remarkable memory, a clear, strong
and analytical mind, and splendid
enthusiasm for the cause for which