Francis Joseph Monaghan

Who was Francis Joseph Monaghan?

Francis Joseph Monaghan was the fourth Roman Catholic Bishop of Ogdensburg.

Francis Monaghan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Thomas P. and Anna Loretta Monaghan. He attended Seton Hall College in South Orange, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He then studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basilio Pompilj on May 29, 1915. He earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology that same year.

Upon his return to New Jersey in 1915, he served as a curate at St. Paul of the Cross Church in Jersey City until 1926, when he became a professor of dogmatic theology and metaphysics at Immaculate Conception Seminary. He served as President of Seton Hall College from 1933 to 1936. He was named a Papal Chamberlain in 1934.

On April 17, 1936, Monaghan was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Ogdensburg, New York, and Titular Bishop of Mela by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Archbishop Thomas Walsh, with Bishops Joseph Henry Conroy and Thomas H. McLaughlin serving as co-consecrators. Following the death of Bishop Conroy, Monaghan succeeded him as Roman Catholic Bishop of Ogdensburg on March 20, 1939.