Francis Patrick Keough

American prelate

His Excellency, The Most Reverend Francis Patrick Keough
Archbishop of Baltimore

See	Archdiocese of Baltimore
Appointed	November 29, 1947
Installed	February 24, 1948
Term ended	December 8, 1961
Predecessor	Michael Joseph Curley
Successor	Lawrence Shehan
Orders
Ordination	June 10, 1916 by John Joseph Nilan
Consecration	May 22, 1934 by Amleto Giovanni Cicognani
Personal details
Born	(1890-12-30)December 30, 1890 New Britain, Connecticut, US
Died	December 8, 1961(1961-12-08) (aged 70) Baltimore, Maryland, US
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Providence (1934-1947)
Education	St. Thomas Seminary Grand Seminary of Saint-Sulpice St. Bernard's Seminary
Motto	Maria Spes Nostra (Mary, our hope)

Francis Patrick Keough (December 30, 1890 – December 8, 1961) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island from 1934 to 1947 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 1947 until his death.

Biography

Early life

Francis Keough was born on December 30, 1890, in New Britain, Connecticut, the second and youngest son of Patrick and Margaret (née Ryan) Keough. His parents were Irish immigrants, and his father died when Francis was only five years old.^[1] He received his early education at the parochial school of St. Mary's Church in New Britain, and began his studies for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut.^[2]^[1]

In 1911, Keough was sent to the Grand Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.^[3] He returned home following the outbreak of World War I in 1913. Keough then completed his theological studies at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York.^[1]^[2]

Priesthood

On June 10, 1916, Keough was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Hartford by Bishop John Joseph Nilan.^[4] His first assignment was as a curate at St. Rose Parish in Meriden, Connecticut. He remained at St. Rose until Nilan appointed him as his private secretary in 1919.^[1] During the next 15 years, Keough served as diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as assistant chancellor, and as chaplain of two institutions.^[2]

Bishop of Providence

On February 10, 1934, Keough was appointed the fourth bishop of Providence by Pope Pius XI.^[4] He received his episcopal consecration at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 22, 1934, from Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, with Archbishop John Murray and Bishop James Cassidy serving as co-consecrators.^[4]

During Keough's tenure in Providence, the Catholic population of the diocese increased from 325,000 to 425,000, and the number of clergy grew by fifty percent. He opened 15 new parishes and built four high schools.^[1]^[4]

In 1939, Keough opened Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Providence, the first minor seminary in the diocese.^[5] He worked to ease tensions between the French-speaking and English-speaking members of his congregation, and reduced the heavy financial debts burdening the diocese.^[2]

In 1942, during World War II, Keough delivered the blessing at the launching of the first Liberty ship built in Providence.^[5] In the late 1940s, Keough worked with the Sisters of Mercy to open Salve Regina College in Newport, Rhode Island, the first college for Catholic women in the diocese.^[5]

Archbishop of Baltimore

On November 29, 1947, Keough was named by Pope Pius XII as the eleventh archbishop of Baltimore.^[4] He was installed in the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore on February 24, 1948.^[4]

During Keough's fourteen years in Baltimore, the Catholic population of the archdiocese grew from 265,000 to 400,000.^[6] Like other Catholic prelates of the early Cold War era, Keough was strong foe of communism. He supported the founding of the Maryland Action Guild, an anti-communist organization. At a commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in 1950, he warned about 2000 years of Christianity "...crumbling before the juggernaut of communism."^[7]

Keough broke ground in 1954 for the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. He also built many new schools, homes, orphanages and other institutions.^[6] In 1956, Keough banned Catholics in the archdiocese from seeing the 1956 film Baby Doll.^[7] He called for a "crusade of prayer" during the 1959 visit of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the United States.^[7]

Keough was a trustee of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a member of the American Board of Catholic Missions. He served three terms as chair of the National Catholic Welfare Conference.^[6] Keough was known as the "Archbishop of the poor" due to his dedication to orphans and the aged.^[8] He was named an assistant to the papal throne in 1959.^[6]

Death and legacy

Francis Keough died in Baltimore from a cerebral thrombosis on December 8, 1961, at age 70.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Archbishop Francis P. Keough: Builder of a New Cathedral (1947-1961)". Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Archived from the original on October 15, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Most Rev. Francis Patrick Keough". Archdiocese of Baltimore. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
^ "Most Rev. Francis Patrick Keough". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. Archived from the original on October 20, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Archbishop Francis Patrick Keough". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
^ ^a ^b ^c Snizek, Rick (March 17, 2022). "The Fourth Bishop of Providence: Bishop Francis P. Keough". Rhode Island Catholic. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Archbishop Francis P. Keough Of Baltimore See Is Dead at 70. Leader of 400,000 Catholics. Assumed Post in 1947. Ex-Bishop of Providence". The New York Times. December 9, 1961.
^ ^a ^b ^c Spalding, Thomas W. (1988). "Traditions and Transitions: The Leadership in the Baltimore Church, 1948-1961". U.S. Catholic Historian. 7 (1): 73–89. ISSN 0735-8318.
^ ^a ^b "Milestones". Time. December 15, 1961. Archived from the original on February 5, 2011.

External links

Official site of the Holy See

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by William A. Hickey	Bishop of Providence 1934–1947	Succeeded by Russell J. McVinney
Preceded by Michael Joseph Curley	Archbishop of Baltimore 1947–1961	Succeeded by Lawrence Shehan

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore

Churches
and parishes

List: List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore

Cathedral: Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

Co-cathedral: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Pro-cathedral: St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral

Parish churches: St. Alphonsus; Holy Cross; Holy Rosary; St. Elizabeth of Hungary; St. John the Evangelist; St. Leo; St. Vincent de Paul; St. Wenceslaus; Our Lady of Pompeii

Chapels and shrines: National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Catholic
education

Seminaries: Mount St. Mary's Seminary; St. Mary's Seminary

Higher education: Loyola University Maryland; Mount St. Mary's University; Notre Dame of Maryland University; St. Mary's University

High schools: Archbishop Curley; Archbishop Spalding; Bishop Walsh School; Calvert Hall College; Cristo Rey Jesuit; Loyola Blakefield; Maryvale Preparatory School; Mercy; Mount de Sales Academy; Mount Saint Joseph; Notre Dame Preparatory School; Our Lady of Mount Carmel; St. Frances Academy; St. John's Catholic Preparatory; Saint Maria Goretti; St. Mary's; The Catholic High School of Baltimore; The John Carroll School

Closed educational institutions: Cardinal Gibbons School; Institute of Notre Dame; Seton Keough High School; Towson Catholic High School; Woodstock College

Ordinaries

Archbishops: John Carroll, S.J.; Leonard Neale, S.J.; Ambrose Maréchal, P.S.S.; James Whitfield; Samuel Eccleston, P.S.S.; Francis Patrick Kenrick; Martin John Spalding; James Roosevelt Bayley; James Gibbons; Michael Joseph Curley; Francis Patrick Keough; Lawrence Shehan; William Donald Borders; William Henry Keeler; Edwin Frederick O'Brien; William Edward Lori

Auxiliary bishops: Dominic Laurence Graessel; Alfred Allen Paul Curtis; Owen Patrick Bernard Corrigan; Thomas Joseph Shahan; John Michael McNamara; Lawrence Shehan; Jerome Aloysius Daugherty Sebastian; Thomas Austin Murphy; Thomas Mardaga; F. Joseph Gossman; Philip Francis Murphy; James Stafford; William Clifford Newman; John Ricard, S.S.J.; Gordon Bennett, S.J.; W. Francis Malooly; Mitchell T. Rozanski; Denis J. Madden; Mark E. Brennan; Adam Parker; Bruce Lewandowski

Miscellany

Suffragan dioceses

Catholicism portal
Maryland portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence
Bishops	Ordinaries Thomas Francis Hendricken Matthew Harkins William A. Hickey Francis Patrick Keough Russell McVinney Louis Edward Gelineau Robert Edward Mulvee Thomas Joseph Tobin Richard Henning Auxiliaries Thomas Francis Doran Denis Matthew Lowney Thomas Francis Maloney Bernard Matthew Kelly Kenneth Anthony Angell Robert Joseph McManus Robert C. Evans
Churches	List List of churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence Cathedral Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul Parish churches St. Joseph Church, Central Falls St. Matthew's Church, Central Falls Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, Coventry St. Paul Church, Cranston St. Mary's Church, Crompton St. Joseph's Church, Cumberland St. Mary's Church, Newport St. John the Baptist Church, Pawtucket St. Mary's Church of the Immaculate Conception, Pawtucket Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Providence St. Adalbert's Church, Providence St. Joseph's Church, Providence St. Michael's Church, Providence St. Casimir Church, Warren Church of the Precious Blood, Woonsocket St. Ann's Church, Woonsocket St. Charles Borromeo Church, Woonsocket St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Woonsocket Former parish churches Holy Trinity Church, Central Falls Trinity Church, Pawtucket Immaculate Conception Church, Westerly
Education	Higher education Providence College Salve Regina University High schools Bishop Hendricken High School, Warwick Bishop Keough Regional High School, Pawtucket La Salle Academy, Providence Mount Saint Charles Academy, Woonsocket Portsmouth Abbey School, Portsmouth Prout School, Wakefield St. Mary Academy – Bay View, East Providence St. Raphael Academy, Pawtucket Former high school Our Lady of Fatima High School, Warren
Hospitals	Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, Providence St. Joseph's Hospital, Providence
Priests	Ernest Bertrand Boland Austin Dowling Salvatore Ronald Matano Daniel Patrick Reilly Francis Xavier Roque William Stang
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford
Ordinaries	Bishops William Tyler Bernard O'Reilly Francis Patrick McFarland Thomas Galberry, O.S.A. Lawrence S. McMahon Michael Tierney John J. Nilan Maurice F. McAuliffe Archbishops Henry J. O'Brien John Francis Whealon Daniel Anthony Cronin Henry J. Mansell Leonard P. Blair Coadjutor archbishops Christopher J. Coyne
Auxiliary bishops	Joseph Francis Donnelly John Francis Hackett Paul Loverde Christie Macaluso John Gregory Murray Henry Joseph O'Brien Peter A. Rosazza Juan Miguel Betancourt
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford Basilica Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Waterbury Parishes St. Joseph Church, Ansonia St. Stanislaus Church, Bristol St. Michael the Archangel Church, Derby St. Adalbert Church, Enfield St. Augustine Church, Hartford Holy Trinity Church, Hartford SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Hartford St. Stanislaus Church, Meriden Holy Cross Church, New Britain Sacred Heart Church, New Britain St. Mary's Church, New Haven St. Joseph's Church, New Haven St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven St. Mary Church, Newington Church of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk Immaculate Conception Church, Southington St. Joseph Church, Suffield St. Casimir Church, Terryville St. Mary Church, Torrington St. Hedwig Church, Union City St. Patrick - St. Anthony Church, Hartford SS. Peter and Paul Church, Wallingford St. Anne Church, Waterbury Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Waterbury Former parishes St. Anne/Immaculate Conception Parish, Hartford St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Waterbury
Education	Seminaries St. Thomas Seminary, Bloomfield High schools Academy of Our Lady of Mercy, Lauralton Hall, Milford Canterbury School, New Milford East Catholic High School, Manchester Holy Cross High School, Waterbury Northwest Catholic High School, West Hartford Notre Dame High School, West Haven Sacred Heart Academy, Hamden Sacred Heart High School, Waterbury St. Paul Catholic High School, Bristol
Priests	Peter Leo Gerety Francis Patrick Keough
Catholicism portal