St. John O'Sullivan

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The Right Reverend
St. John O'Sullivan
St. John O'Sullivan in the courtyard of Mission San Juan Capistrano
BornMarch 19, 1874
Louisville, Kentucky
DiedJuly 22, 1933(1933-07-22) (aged 59)
Orange, California

St. John O'Sullivan (pronounced "sin-jin") (1874 –1933)

Catholic priest who personally undertook the restoration of the old Mission San Juan Capistrano in California
.

Early life

O'Sullivan was born in

ordained by the Bishop of Louisville, William George McCloskey.[2]

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Within months of his ordination, O'Sullivan was diagnosed as suffering from

American Southwest. He helped in various parishes in Texas and Arizona. In this way, he came to know the Rev. Alfred Quetu, the Catholic pastor of Prescott, Arizona.[3] The pastor suggested that O'Sullivan might find the abandoned Mission San Juan Capistrano in California might provide him a place for him to exercise his ministry in a manner compatible with his health. O'Sullivan traveled to the Mission, where he fell in love with the site.[2]

O'Sullivan was put in charge of the ruined Mission on July 5, 1910, making him the first priest to be resident at the mission since 1886. He set up a tent in the ruins of the mission, where he lived and began to minister to the local community. With a vision of how the Mission had looked in its heyday, he led restoration efforts at the Mission while he recovered. Working with his own hands, he began the restoration of the church, carving new beams and plastering and repairing the old walls. As the Mission began to regain its former glory, the priest found that his health was improving.[2]

Honours and legacy

In 1918 the Mission was given parochial status by the Bishop of Monterey-Los Angeles, John Joseph Cantwell, with O'Sullivan named as its first pastor in modern times.[2] He was later named a Supernumerary Privy Chamberlain by the Holy See, entitled to be addressed as "Monsignor". O'Sullivan wrote Little Chapters About San Juan Capistrano in 1912, and in 1930 co-authored Capistrano Nights: Tales of a California Mission Town with Charles Francis Saunders and Charles Percy Austin.

O'Sullivan died in

East Los Angeles neighborhood of the city. On November 7, 1934, his remains were re-interred in the cemetery of the old Mission, adjacent to the Serra Chapel which he had helped to rebuild, where they rest today.[4] The O'Neill Museum was created at the Mission and serves headquarters of the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society and the repository of all its archives.[2]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-7385-3044-4
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Monsignor St. John O'Sullivan". The San Juan Capistrano Historical Society. Archived from the original on 25 January 2001. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  3. ^ Anderson, Parker (September 25, 2010). "Days Past: The history of Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Prescott:Part I". The Daily Courier. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  4. ^ Hallan-Gibson, p. 83

External links

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