predecessor successor death_date consecration birth_place death_place title article_title type see term birth_date image ordination name church
john joseph kain john joseph swint 4 october 1922 april 8 , 1894 little malvern , worcestershire , england wheeling , west virginia , united states bishop of wheeling patrick james donahue
 bishop wheeling april , 1922 8 , 1894 & mdash ; october 4 15 april 1849 bishop patrick james donahue.jpg december 19 , 1885 patrick james donahue roman catholic church
patrick james donahue

patrick james donahue -lrb- april 15 , 1849 -- october 4 , 1922 -rrb- was an english prelate of the roman catholic church .
he served as bishop of wheeling from 1894 until his death in 1922 .
born in little malvern , worcestershire , donahue became a student at st. michael 's priory in hereford at age 14 and entered st. gregory 's college near bath two years later .
after graduating in 1869 , he taught english and mathematics .
in 1873 , he came to united states and settled in washington , d.c. , where he enrolled at george washington university law school and was admitted to the bar in 1876 .
he then practiced until 1883 , when he became a theological student at st. mary 's seminary in baltimore , maryland .
donahue was ordained to the priesthood by archbishop james gibbons on december 19 , 1885 .
after serving as an assistant priest at st. john 's church in baltimore , he was chancellor of the archdiocese of baltimore from 1886 to 1891 , and rector of assumption cathedral from 1891 to 1894 .
on january 22 , 1894 , donahue was appointed the third bishop of wheeling , west virginia , by pope leo xiii .
he received his episcopal consecration on the following april 8 from cardinal gibbons , with bishops john samuel foley and leo michael haid , o.s.b. , serving as co-consecrators .
during donahue 's 28-year-long tenure , the wheeling diocese entered a period of tremendous growth and development .
he established 38 parishes , six missions , four hospitals , two monasteries , an orphanage and several schools .
he also established the first official diocesan periodical , `` the church calendar '' , in 1895 and held the sixth diocesan synod in 1899 .
moreover , the number of priests more than tripled and the number of catholics increased from 20,000 to 62,000 .
for all these many achievements , he earned the nickname of the `` great builder . ''
donaue died from heart complications , aged 73 .
