Patrick James Donahue

Who was Patrick James Donahue?

Patrick James Donahue 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."