R. Luke Concanen

Who was R. Luke Concanen?

Richard Luke Concanen, O.P., was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of New York.

Concanen was born in Kilbegnet, County Galway, then in the Kingdom of Ireland, a descendant of the Uí Díarmata dynasty. He completed his theological studies in Italy at age 17. He was ordained a Dominican priest on December 22, 1770, at the Lateran Basilica. He then served as a professor at the Dominican convent of St. Clement's in Rome, librarian of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and secretary of the Dominican province of Great Britain, while also serving as the agent of the Irish bishops.

Pope Pius VI nominated Concanen as Bishop of Kilfenora and Apostolic Administrator of Kilmacduagh in 1798, but the latter declined due to his delicate health. Highly interested in the missions of the United States, he made large contributions to St. Rose Priory in Kentucky.

On April 8, 1808, Concanen was appointed the first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of New York by Pope Pius VII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 24 from Cardinal Michele di Pietro, with Archbishops Tommaso Arezzo and Benedetto Sinibaldi serving as co-consecrators. However, Concanen never stepped foot on American soil. Due to the embargoes enacted during the Napoleonic Wars, he was unable to sail from the Port of Naples and even detained as a British subject by the French forces in possession of the city. He administered his diocese by correspondence with the missionary priests working in New York.